Albus Potter, Classmates and Elves
by JetLaBarge
Summary: This is the 6th of the 4 books of my 19 year story, the 2nd of the Albus Potter books. If I keep receiving reviews I plan to continue well past Albus's years at Hogwarts. Starts the afternoon of the same day Albus Potter and the Deathly Hallows ends.
1. Ch 1 The Students Raised with Elves

This is the 6th of the 4 books of my 19 year story, the 2nd of the Albus Potter books. If I keep receiving reviews, I plan to continue well past Albus's years at Hogwarts

Ch 1 The Students Raised with Elves

I want to thank a new Beta, Deb. As usual with a good Beta reader, I have had to make some major changes because of her suggestions. Thank you, Deb.

* * *

Starts the afternoon of the same day Albus Potter and the Deathly Hallows ends. You really need to read that story first.

Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy left the room they were sharing at the castle in Switzerland, and met up with Rose Granger-Weasley and Cleopatra Smith, who were sharing a room next door. While Al's father and Rose's mother were busy with the International Conference of Witches and Wizards, Al and Rose were going to be meeting with the other boys and girls who had been raised with an Elf, and had been learning Elfish.

"I'm nervous," Scorpius admitted. "I've been learning Elfish as long as any of you, but I've never met these people. They all have prominent parents and grandparents, and I'm just the son and grandson of criminals."

"As far as I know," Albus explained, "we are the only Magi in the world who know the Elfish language. Since you know the language as well, you should be meeting with us."

"Are all of the parents of the students here at the International Conference of Witches and Wizards?' Scorpius asked.

Nodding, Albus answered, "I think so."

"My father would be very upset if he knew I was not wearing robes," Scorpius mumbled.

"Almost all Magi wear Muggle styled clothes," Rose insisted. "England was one of the last areas in the world to wear medieval clothes. You are wearing perfectly acceptable casual clothes. Your father is just very old fashioned." Rose looked over all of them. Except for the unfashionably large pockets on Cleopatra's dress, everyone was appropriately dressed.

Martin Luther King P/W, the Elf Al and Rose had been raised with, was walking hand in hand with Rosa Parks, the Elf Scorpius and Cleo had been raised with. The Elves joined the Magi as they walked to the meeting room in the castle. Cleo noticed that Rosa and Martin were talking to each other like old friends, and asked them how long they had known each other.

Rosa explained, "Elves has own school for young Elves. Ever since Harry Potter has Potter/Weasley Elves, is school for young Elves, in upstairs of New Burrow. Martin and I meet. We are the same age. We are also named after freedom fighters. Besides, Elves not so alone as some Magi think. Our families know each other. With new Elf rules we have a little free time, and the two families meet."

"Galadriel has arranged a meeting room in one of the lower levels of the castle," Rose explained. "I think some of the lower levels are reserved for Elves. She is running the meetings; she usually does."

"How important an Elf is Galadriel?" Scorpius asked.

Albus looked at Martin and Rosa. Martin declared, "When Harry Potter became the Regent in Switzerland, his magic, what he did for Dobby, for Kreacher, for all the Potter/Weasley Elves, changed the Elves under the Regents from house-elves into Elves. John and Mary, the two head elves, took surnames, John and Mary Rivendell. Their daughter Arwen married Elrond Lothlorien, and they have two daughters, Galadriel and Luthien. Galadriel and her sister Luthien are very important. Galadriel is using the First Wand, the Wand from Outside, not made on earth but from where the Elves came from. Elf prophets say she is the heir, the first since Elves enslaved.

"Thorin Oakenwand, the goblin, may be her mate someday. If so they will be High Elves again."

The four Magi and two Elves walked down a sloped passageway in the huge castle until they came to the room set aside for the meeting.

Galadriel and her sister Luthien were the only beings in the meeting room when Albus, Rose, Scorpius and Cleo, and the Elves arrived.

Galadriel addressed the four in Elfish, " _Greeting, Elf Friends."_ She then looked directly at Cleo and Albus, and using different words greeted them as _Elf Friend pair._

Albus responded for the four, as was proper in Elfish, _"Greetings, Galadriel."_

Cleo turned to Albus, a mixture of concern and delight in her voice and looks, and commented, referring to the second greeting, " _Elf Friend pair_ has a wealth of meaning buried in its words. Are we really that important?"

"Probably," proclaimed Albus, some resignation in his voice.

"Oh Albus, isn't that exciting!" Cleo gushed.

"It may be why we were targeted for assassination," Albus uttered. "We are threatening the way things have been done for centuries."

"Oh," Cleo quietly replied, not sure how to respond to this observation.

Shortly after they arrived, Adel Brandt and her younger brother Hermann, the Swiss students, appeared at the doorway to the room.

Adel looked at the four students, greeting Albus and Rose. "Albus, Rose, these must be the other students we have been reading about, Scorpius Malfoy and HIS guest, Cleopatra. Albus, Rose, you are doing a great job making the castle look nicer, newer."

"Cleopatra and Rose are doing most of the decorating work," Albus declared. "They are doing an excellent job."

Adel looked suspiciously at Cleopatra, but did not say anything else.

The group, humans and Elves, moved over to the end of the room furthest from the entrance. Shortly after everybody had taken seats, two more students and an Elf appeared at the entrance. Since the others were engaged in a conversation that referred to things Cleo had not been involved in, she stood up to greet the newcomers, telling the others, "I will greet other students as they come in."

Cleo walked the length of the room, her hips causing her skirt to sway back and forth just enough to draw attention to her figure. Although she was not trying to be sexy, Cleo loved her exaggerated female shape, and it showed.

Gabrielle DuMond turned to her cousin Jean-Louis Felion and, when Cleo was within hearing range, sneered, (in French) " _She is ugly."_

Jean-Louis countered, (in French), _"She is sexy."_

Gabrielle retorted, _"You are only saying that because she has boobs. You want to marry a cow? Look at her hips. She is wide enough to need two places at the table. Her skirt has those ugly kangaroo pockets"_

Cleo, who had seen photographs of all the students, greeted them in (a very formal) French, " _Good afternoon, Mademoiselle Gabrielle DuMond and Mousier Jean-Paul Felion. I am Cleopatra, Albus Potter's"_ then with a loud whisper, " _FAT girlfriend."_

" _Possessive little bitch,"_ Gabrielle snapped.

"I'm delighted to meet you too," Cleo jested, smoothly switching to English, as she waved them in the direction of the rest of the group, moving to meet another young boy and girl and Elf.

"Just because the DuMond family is one of the oldest French families in Quebec, she thinks she is special," the young boy cracked. "I am Ujarak Harry Eseven, and this is my sister Nukka Senda. We are usually called Harry and Senda."

"I am Tink," the Elf said by way of introduction. "Elves in the far north have worn cloths out of necessity, and we have always been more partners than slaves. Our Elfish family has worked side by side with the Eseven family for generations."

Harry continued, "Our family has been in North America for well over two millennia, and we can show we were back in forth between Asia and the America's for all of that time. You must be Cleopatra. Gabrielle just doesn't know just how you fit into our group. Actually, none of us do. You and Malfoy were quite a surprise, and not necessarily a welcome one."

"I do not think I can do anything about that," Cleo observed.

"You do not have to stay part of this group," Harry countered.

"I think we do," Cleo affirmed. "Galadriel says we, at least Albus and I, are Elf Friends, or an _Elf Friends pair."_

Senda observed, "I think most of the original group are very surprised, even shocked, at the position you have assumed." She sighed an exaggerated sigh. "I guess we will just have to put up with you."

Two more students and an Elf were watching as Harry, Senda, and their elf Tink left to join the larger group.

"I'm Sarah Firewalker, this is my cousin Joshua, and 'Trader,' the Elf," the girl announced. "You must be Cleopatra, the supposed fat girlfriend of Albus." She critically looked over Cleo, before continuing, "Well, you ARE sort of fat. We will see about the rest

Joshua shook Cleo's hand, agreeing, "I'm Joshua, and at least I'm glad to meet you, Miss Cleopatra."

'Trader' also shook Cleo's hand, confirming, "Everyone calls me 'Trader.' My real name is Naalyehe ya Sidahi, but I would not dream of asking anyone to remember that. I think you are curvy, not fat. I know Joshua and I want to become friends with you."

"Oh thank you, Joshua, Trader," Cleo gushed. "I was beginning to think all of Albus and Rose's friends were going to hate me."

Another boy, girl, and Elf appeared. The vaguely oriental looking girl asked, "Do all your classmates at Hogwarts hate you?"

"Oh, I have a LOT of friends at Hogwarts," Cleo beamed in reply. "Magi and Elves and even some centaurs, I think. It is hard to tell if a centaur is really your friend, or just thinks it may be important to be acquainted with you."

"I am Luta Edington. My grandmother is the Minister of Magic for all of North America, and I am here with my cousin Henry Edington and the Elf Peter Puck Freelf. I am delighted to meet you, Cleo. I am sure we can get to be friends."

Henry questioned, "Do you have a magical smart phone? I know Albus and Rose do. Rose's grandmother lives with her, and they know all about No-maj technology."

Cleo admitted, "I have been raised with almost no Muggle technology. That is one of the things I am learning."

"Backward pure blooded idiots, probably," Henry groused.

"Sounds about right," Cleo freely admitted, thinking about most of the Malfoy family.

Another vaguely Native American looking couple accompanied the first group. They and the Elf accompanying them were dressed in very casual Muggle clothes. The girl kidded, "Well, Cleopatra, if you are going to work with us North American Magi you are going to have to know something about No-maj technology. In California we are all about blending Magic and No-maj technology.

"I'm Maria Rios, and this is my little brother Jesus. It is spelled like Jesus, but with a Spanish pronunciation. Sprite LAWW is the Elf we have been raised with. He is part of a large group of Elves that live at and work at our school in Los Angeles."

"Your mother is head of the Magical school in Los Angeles?" Cleo asked.

"That's right," Maria confirmed. "It looks like the Chinese contingent is here as well. That's probably all of us."

The Chinese, Harry and Ginny Wang, John and Marcy Chang, and their Elves Xion Jing and Jia Xian Jing, seemed to be one group, with the two elves working together with all four children. They did not seem to have any problem with Cleo.

With the group finally assembled, Rose looked around and asked, "Where is Thorin?"

Galadriel explained, "He is meeting with a group of unhappy Goblins. They are upset that he has the sword and scabbard of Ragnuk the First, your Sword of Gryffindor. They are actually upset about many things, and Goblins are not nice to be around when they are mad at each other."

Gabrielle asserted, "Goblins are never real nice to be around. We have to put up with them, but I cannot imagine anyone liking a Goblin."

Shaking her head, Adel Brandt countered, "We work with Goblins all the time. Thorin has been with us, with Galadriel and Luthien, ever since we started learning Elfish. They can be nice, especially the younger ones."

Albus agreed, informing the group, "There are Goblins living with and working with my father and his partners at Dursley, Potter and Weasley, the group of companies run by my Uncles Bill Weasley and Dudley Dursley. Rose and I have met them, and are friends with some of the Goblin children."

Rose elaborated, "There are a lot of Goblins very unhappy about Goblin children, and adults, becoming friends with Magi and Elves, but it is happening."

Galadriel pleaded with the group, telling them, "We really need to support Thorin and all the Goblins who are trying to change the culture of the Goblins."

Galadriel started the meeting by saying, "The Elves are going to be meeting with Luthien in the room next door. They are going to be attending classes with the Elves being taught at Hogwarts. As most of you know, some of our schools of magic including Hogwarts and The Los Angeles School of Magi, have excellent classes for Elves as well."

Sprite, the Elf from Los Angeles, volunteered, "The Elves working at our school are employees, not servants or slaves. My parents teach young elves instead of making them clean and cook."

"We've even attended a few of their classes, and they ours," Maria Rios agreed, quite proud of her school.

Once the Elves had moved to the other room, Galadriel asked, "Is everybody here going to Hogwarts next year?"

Luta Edington was the first to speak. "Henry and I are going to be the first from our family to go somewhere other than Salem in over a hundred years. It is quite a sacrifice not going to the school our family has attended."

Gabrielle DuMond protested, "Our school in Quebec is older, and better."

Marie Rios responded, "Our school in Los Angeles is more modern, as modern as any school of the Magi in the world."

Harry Wang insisted, "The Chinese schools in both Beijing and Hong Kong are as modern as any in the world. All of the Chinese schools are new, and modern."

"Enough!" Galadriel chided the group. "This is not a contest of who is leaving the better school."

"Two new people were added to this group at the last minute," Gabrielle lamented. "We were not consulted. How do Albus's fat, ugly girlfriend, and the son and grandson of criminals, belong in this group?"

Galadriel looked sternly at Gabrielle, telling her, "Hold your tongue, Gabrielle. They are both _Magi raised with Elves. Albus and Cleo are_ an _elf friend couple._ We have known about them as long as you have been meeting with this group."

"They were raised with an Elf, and know Elfish," Albus explained. "I have been talking to the Prophets most of my life, and for most of the last twelve years the Prophets and Elves have known that this group was going to consist of twenty Magi, along with Elves."

Galadriel agreed. "The Prophets and the governing councils of the Elves have said from the start that there would be ten pairs of Magi, each a boy and girl, raised with Elves and learning Elfish."

The overt grumbling ceased, at least temporarily.

Galadriel then informed the group, "The Elves are going to be meeting in the next room, since they have different classes and teachers."

All the Elves, except Galadriel, left the room.

Albus announced, "We need to make sure everyone who is going to be in second year knows all the first year spells. Rose and Scorpius have a list of all the spells, and have started a spreadsheet showing who knows what spells. Rose, do you want to project the list on the wall, please."

Rose informed Albus, "I need a section of the wall white and smooth."

Cleo went up to a section of the wall, and with a quick and silent wave of her wand changed the wall to a smooth, white wall.

Gabrielle quipped, "I didn't think we were to do non-verbal spells our first year."

Cleo admitted, "I do most of my spells non-verbally. As soon as I understand the magic, and what type spell it is, doing it non-verbally is easy, usually easier than verbally for most power spells."

Gabrielle gave Cleo a funny look, but did not say anything else.

Rose and Scorpius both brought out what looked like laptop computers. Rose did something, and projected the Hogwarts classes on the wall.

Potions

Muggle Studies

Arithmancy

Ancient Runes

Care of Magical Creatures

Transfigurations

Herbology

Charms

Defense against the Dark Arts

Rose then asked, "Is there anyone who has not finished the first year potions from my mother's Potion's text book?"

John Chang immediately interrupted. "The Potions textbook is by my grandfather TT Chang, and your mother, Rose."

Rose plowed on. "Raise your hand if you have not finished all the first year potions."

No one raised their hand. The Chinese contingent was visibly upset at how Rose was dominating the meeting, although they did not say anything.

"Rose, I am going to run the meeting," Galadriel reminded Rose. Flushing, Rose shut up as Galadriel ran the meeting, making sure all the students who were going to be in second year knew all the necessary first year spells, and that all the students who were going to be in first year were prepared. Rose ran the spreadsheet and projector, while Scorpius took notes.

Finally the discussion about classes was finished.

Scorpius asked, "What should we call this group? I would like a simple name to talk about you, about us."

Gabrielle DuMond popped up with, "Magi Learning Elfish."

Luta Edington suggested, "Magi Elfish Learners, or MEL's. You cannot sa but you can say M E L, mel."

Galadriel pointed out, "You are being very Magi centered. You are also ignoring much of the hard questions we are dealing with when it comes to the Elfish language. How many of you learned Korean before this group started to meet?"

Only Luta Edington raised her hand.

Galadriel continued, "Korean is an important language because it is so deferential. By learning the difference between the very deferential Korean language and the very egalitarian English, you learned something about the problem the very deferential Elfish poses. The Elves also have to learn these distinctions, and by not referring to Elves you are treating us as not important."

Luta raised her hand. "Mayb L, Magi and Elfish Language Learners."

Galadriel looked over the group. "Does anyone else have any ideas? If not, we can call ourselves the Magi and Elfish Language Learners, or MELL's for short."

When the meeting was coming to an end, Galadriel asked, "Can anyone summarize the meeting results?"

Scorpius volunteered, "I have good notes on what happened. In summary, all the Magi students are very smart, and are at or above grade level in all of the classes. None of us should have any problem going into the proper grade next year. If anyone asks about a particular student or family I have notes, but it is all very complimentary to everyone. Speaking for myself, I'm thrilled to be in such a capable group of Magi."

No one else volunteered, so Galadriel announced, "I am going to ask Scorpius to give a brief summary of our meeting to the press." This caused some quiet grumbling, but since no one else had taken notes on the meeting, no one could object.

* * *

When they were finished and walking back to their rooms Rose teased, "My French is better than your French, Scorpius."

"We do have French relatives, but you have had a lot more practice," Scorpius responded.

"Is that where you learned French?" Albus asked Cleo.

"No, I must have learned French and Spanish as a child, before I was left at the Malfoy Manor," Cleo concluded. "The languages are natural, but my vocabulary is weak. Besides, I was told I speak both languages with a strong Caribbean accent. It was a problem with some of the Malfoy's French relatives when they visited."

They arrived back at their rooms to find Galadriel waiting for them in the hallway. "May I come in," she asked, and they all went into the room Rose and Cleo were sharing.

"How do you think the meeting went?" Galadriel inquired of the students. "I would like to hear what you thought of the meeting."

"A lot more than just making sure that we all could handle the classwork," Cleo explained. "You referred to Albus and me using elfish terms that linked Albus and me, like you would use for two people who are formally betrothed, not as boyfriend and girlfriend. That did not go over well with some of the Magi. You also assumed that Scorpius would be welcome as part of the group, something that was not accepted by everyone. No one else took notes, but it took a lot of people by surprise when Scorpius became the group's spokesperson."

Galadriel admitted, "That is a reasonably good analysis of what I saw."

"How do we win people over?" Al asked.

Galadriel replied, "Just be nice, and be friends with everyone. You are not going to win everyone over at once, and there are other rivalries within the group that will cause some problems."

Scorpius pointed out, "Mrs. Hudson and I are writing an article on the children who have been raised with Elves, who are going to Hogwarts next year. Is that going to cause a problem?"

"Dad says you are almost always better off trying to control what is written about you," Albus proclaimed. "He says that you should always tell the truth, but how you say things can be very important."

Scorpius confirmed, "Mrs. Hudson, Mr. and Mrs. Potter have been working with me on how to write articles, and how to write minutes of a meeting. I would really like to work with them. I just don't know how the rest of the students will react. They were not all that happy that I was the only one to record what was going on in the meeting, but no one else volunteered either."

Galadriel suggested, "Offer to have anyone who wants to help you. I'm not sure what will happen, but the less you try to keep a job to yourself the harder it will be for people to complain."

All of the parents of the students had been attending the International Conference of Witches and Wizards all day, but that evening they all left for home, leaving the children in Switzerland under the care of the Elves, the Brandt family, and the Prophetesses. There was a very visible Auror presence, with Aurors and Department of Magical Law Enforcement personnel from all of the children's countries aiding the Swiss.

The next morning most of the newspapers in the magical world published a version of the article Scorpius and Cindy had been working on.

 _ **Students Raised with Elves Meet**_

 _By CB Hudson and SH Malfoy_

 _For over a decade twenty Magi children have learned Elfish along with their native tongues. These students have been very helpful in translating existing documents written in Elfish, They have also been helpful in translating the laws and traditions of the Magi into Elfish, and the traditions of the Elves into the various languages of the Magi. The parents of these children are now going to be sending all of their children to the same school, in order to further the valuable work they are doing._

 _The children are all members of prominent families. They include …_

What followed was a list of all the children and their families, outlining how prominent all the families were. Albus and Rose were second to last, with a very small introduction. Finally, Scorpius and Cleo were listed.

 _The last pair consist of Scorpius Malfoy, the only child of a formerly prominent British magical family and the Malfoy's ward of the past seven years Cleopatra Smith._

 _Yesterday the children met, and confirmed that all of them are at grade level or better to start attending Hogwarts in the fall. They are going to continue to meet in Switzerland for two to three more weeks to further their language training and for some minor work with Elves._

The newspaper article caused quite a stir at breakfast as many of the other student reacted badly to his name in the by-line. Scorpius felt he was walking into dragon fire as they glared and grumbled at him.

Jean-Louis Felion barked, "What gives you, the latest and least of the elf-friends, the right to write about us? You are not even from a prominent Magi family, and your fat girlfriend isn't either."

"Cleo has been living with us, but she is more like a cousin or a sister than a girlfriend," Scorpius retorted. "You are welcome to take over being the secretary of this group. I just felt that since I am the least of the people here, and really don't want to try and influence anyone, I could just listen to you, and document what is happening. That's what I did last week. Cleo and Albus took down the wall, Cleo and Rose redecorated the castle and inspired the flags, and I just documented what was going on."

"You left out 'fat' when you described Cleo," Sarah Firewalker sneered to Scorpius, making sure Cleo but no one else could hear. "Cleopatra this, Cleopatra that. She has NO BUSINESS glomming on to Albus like that! None of the rest of us like her, or you." Sarah glared at Cleo before turning back to her meal.

Before Scorpius could start eating, an owl flew in with a howler. "HOW DARE YOU CALL US A FORMERLY PROMINENT FAMILY?" Draco's voice shouted. "I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO LEAVE HOME, AND YOU RESPOND BY INSULTING US." The howler was mercifully short, but many of the young people were laughing at Scorpius when it was finished.

Joshua, Sarah's brother, stood up and pleaded with the rest, "Give Scorpius and Cleopatra a chance. The castle is much nicer looking since Albus and Cleo took down the wall, and since Rose and Cleo redecorated some of the inside. What have they done to harm this group?"

Adel Brandt followed up with, "Hermann and I agree. Albus is not trying to push Scorpius and Cleopatra on us. They are part of the same magic that has been working on the eighteen of us, and should be here with us. And Cleopatra is not FAT, just curvy and maybe a little heavy."

"They are just jealous because you look like a girl," Albus loudly advised Cleopatra, making it very clear to the group that he was defending Cleo.

"But I'm not thin," Cleo muttered.

Open hostility ceased for the next two weeks, although references to Cleo as Albus's 'fat girlfriend' were occasionally heard.

The rest of the week was language refresher lessons. Neither Scorpius nor Cleopatra knew Chinese, Korean, or German. Scorpius did not know Spanish, but was somewhat comfortable with French. None of the students was totally comfortable in all the languages, so they all needed refresher lessons.

* * *

Cleopatra and Scorpius had submitted samples for DNA analysis when they first arrived in Switzerland, and by the end of the week, the results were finally available. Albus and Rose were deeply involved in procuring the samples for the DNA analysis, and Rose presented the report to the group.

"We have identified about two hundred and thirteen magical DNA pairs in humans. It takes about one hundred and twenty-five to be magical. It seems that almost all Magi have the same one hundred base pairs. The rest seem to be partly divided by race or location, so very few Magi have more than one hundred and eight-five. Up to today they had never identified anyone with over one hundred and ninety of the magical base pairs.

"Scorpius is about average, at one hundred and seventy base pairs.

"Cleopatra has two hundred and ten magical base pairs, by far the most the scientists have ever identified. They think it is because she is very mixed racially, with one of the most complex set of ancestors they have ever identified. It also looks like the more Magi from different races and parts of the world intermarry, the more all the magical base pairs will spread."

Cleopatra and Albus tried to read the emotions of the group when the DNA results were announced. The Han Chinese were proud of their racial purity, and the announcement was not met with joy by them.

Later the same evening the four English Magi and their Elves met to talk about DNA.

"Does DNA have anything to do with magical abilities?" Scorpius asked. "I know some areas of the world are better at certain types of magic. The Chinese are good at potions. I think, from what Rose and I have read, that the Europeans are good at the Dark Arts, and defensive spells."

Rose acknowledged, "There are regional specialties. The Magi who have looked at DNA and race have not really found any correlation yet, but they have just started looking."

Martin and Rosa, the two Elves, looked at each other, and then Rosa announced, "Elves have been looking at history. The last three couples who could have been chief Magi were not 'pure.' Not all white, all black, all anything. At least that is what the paintings and writings suggest."

"So being Pure Blooded is a bad thing, not a good thing?" Scorpius asked. "I know that the people my father and grandfather want me to marry are about as white European as they can be, as well as belonging to one of only a few bloodlines."

"Interbreeding, only marrying close relatives, is a bad thing," Rose agreed.

"That explains some of the dumber Slytherins," Scorpius quipped.

"Probably," Rose laughed.

* * *

The second week the students and Elves worked on translating a couple of key documents, and making sure the Elfish language could describe some of the more modern relationships. By the end of the second week, everybody was tired, and they adjourned until the first of September, when everyone would ride the Hogwarts Express to school.

* * *

Reviews are the only reward we receive for what is, in all honesty, a lot of work. I want to thank everyone who has submitted a review and encouraged me to finish these stories.

2019


	2. Ch 2 A Little Vacation

Ch 2 A Little Vacation

Thank you, Deb, for major suggestions. Some of the dialogue is hers, and the story is much improved by her contributions and criticisms. The first chapter has also had major revisions, so if you read that chapter before March 1, 2019, I would suggest you read it over.

The next chapter starts a new year at Hogwarts for Albus and his friends, but before that, we have a little vacation time.

* * *

It was late July. Before meeting the four students and taking them, Albus, Rose, Scorpius and Cleopatra, back to England, Harry and Ginny were meeting with Steven and Valeri Bushman, the heads of the Prophecy Department in Switzerland. This department kept track of prophesies made worldwide and verified them. Also there were the direct heir of the Prophetesses of Delphi, Nausicaa Scheria, and her granddaughter Sibylla Papadopoulos, her heir.

Sibylla announced, "As some of you know, there was a prophesy that I would be with child when the new queen … Well, here we have a problem. We are reasonably sure that one of your descendants, Harry, Ginny, will be the next king or ruler of the Magi, since you are the Regents, and we assume it will be Albus, but we are not sure. The assumption is that Cleopatra will be his spouse, consort, and the new queen, but we are not sure of that either."

Sibylla continued, "I assumed that I would have another child when the queen ascended the throne. I didn't think it meant that I would not become pregnant until the new queen appeared. If Cleopatra is going to be the new queen, maybe that is what it meant. Sometimes prophecies are hard to interpret. Cleo did something the first day she arrived, examined me with that strange wand of hers, and said a prayer. I think, after twenty years of trying, we are finally expecting a baby. I remember Cleo telling us to have fun, and somehow I felt that it was more important to enjoy what we were doing than to worry. In some ways Cleo has no idea how powerful she is."

Nausicaa emphasized, "Her kind have been dangerously powerful, and all too often out of control. Let us keep watching and praying. I hope Albus can continue to control and channel her. Ginny, we think that your friendship with Cleo is also very important."

Ginny admitted, "In some ways I feel that instead of having one new child, baby Minerva, that I have three, or maybe two and a half. Cleo has become part of our family just like Harry became part of our family long before he and I were married. I don't know about Scorpius, but he seems to be part of this as well."

* * *

Scorpius and Cleopatra took the Floo to Malfoy Manor about noon, coming through the Floo in the front hall. They were met by Narcissa and Draco. The Floo was only open when the Malfoy family was expecting someone, so Scorpius and Cleopatra were expected.

Draco was furious, yelling, "FORMERLY PROMINENT! We are still a rich, pureblooded family. False humility has no place in the Malfoy vocabulary."

"You saw how prominent most of the parents and grandparents were," Scorpius argued. "They were not very accepting of Cleo or me, and there was resentment when I became the secretary for the group, and when Mrs. Hudson and I published articles about our meeting. Our family is no longer prominent enough to influence that group, but by helping to control what is written or recorded about the group, I have a position of more influence that I would have otherwise. Please let me continue to do what I am doing. I promise you, father, that it will be better for the Malfoy family if I am an accepted member of that group."

"What is Cleo?" Draco groused, just as Astoria walked into the front hall.

"Albus Potter's girlfriend," Cleo whispered.

Draco turned on Cleo, glowering at her. "YOU ARE NOT TO BE ALBUS'S GIRLFRIEND!"

"She's always been a fat slob," Astoria sneered. "I don't know why I put up with this."

When no one said anything, Draco stormed off. Astoria then left the house on some errand. Narcissa directed the children to her office, and asked them about the International Conference of Witches and Wizards, and they talked about all they had been doing the last weeks.

Finally Scorpius looked at Cleo, and then asked his grandmother, "Do we have to stay here the rest of the summer? Astoria is always nasty, and dad is furious at me as well. Why don't you spend the rest of the summer with us? You could spend time with Mrs. Weasley at their house, the New Burrow, and we could room with Albus and Rose at their summer house, Potter's New Burrow."

Narcissa put in a Floo call to Molly, who replied, "Come on over here. I'm just a Floo away."

Narcissa took the Floo to The New Burrow. Molly was in the kitchen, pushing a cot on wheels back and forth. "Still taking care of children," Narcissa grinned as she peeked into the cot and cooed at the baby.

"I miss a house filled with children, so I don't mind," Molly agreed with a laugh. "This is Ginny's latest, Minerva. I love babies and small children, and would rather be taking care of them than doing nothing. I also take care of our first great-grandchild, Barack. He is Fred and Miriam's little angel. Both mothers are nursing their babies, so I just have them for short times, but that works out well for all of us."

"Coffee or tea?" Molly asked, pointing out two comfortable chairs."

"Tea, please," Narcissa responded, sitting down.

Molly waved her wand, and a teapot and two cups flew over to the small table between the two chairs. "What brings you here, Narcissa?"

"Scorpius and Cleopatra were verbally attack by both Draco and Astoria when they arrived back from Switzerland," Narcissa explained. "They do not want to stay at Malfoy Manor, and asked if they could come over here instead."

"I do not see why not, but let me see if Ginny agrees," Molly replied. She pulled out her magical/Muggle mobile and said, "Ginny."

A few moments later Ginny's voice replied, "Yes, mum?"

"Narcissa Malfoy is here with me. She tells me that Scorpius and Cleopatra really do not want to spend the rest of the summer at Malfoy Manor, and I can understand why. Do you think Scorpius and Cleopatra could spend the rest of the summer with you at Potter's New Burrow? I assume you and Harry, Ron and Hermione are going to spend the rest of the summer at the summer house, instead of moving back to Grimmauld Place. Narcissa will spend time with me here at our house, so we can help supervise."

"I don't see why not," the voice from the mobile answered. "I'm in my office finishing my Prophet column. Let me come over there in about an hour to work out the details. It will be time for me to nurse Minerva by than anyway."

"I will see you soon," Molly told the instrument in her hand.

"What kind of magic is that?" Narcissa inquired.

"Some new fangled magical/Muggle combination that the Magi in North America and China invented," Molly explained. "I can talk to anyone in the world who has a magical or Muggle version of these things. They just don't work well in some totally magical areas. You can send and receive messages, but not talk, if the area is too magical."

Molly pulled out her wand and cast the Patronus charm, telling it to let Andromeda know that her sister was in the kitchen. "Andy has one of these, but she doesn't use it much," Molly explained as she held up her mobile. "She has to take it with her if she leaves the protected grounds around the New Burrow, but that is the only time I can count on her having it on her." A short time later Andromeda walked into the kitchen, and the three women drank tea and talked until Ginny arrived.

Ginny told the group as she picked up Minerva and fumbled for her shirt to begin nursing the baby, "I've send a text message to Harry, Hermione and Ron, and none of them have a problem with Scorpius and Cleopatra spending the rest of the summer here. I understand that all of the children raised with Elves are going to be here for a day just before boarding the train to Hogwarts. I think the parents are going to be here as well. Harry wants plenty of extra security for the train, and has something else planned as well. We will probably need both houses to house everybody who will be here."

"I'll probably be over most days myself," Narcissa confessed. "Malfoy Manor is not a very comfortable place. There is always tension between Draco, Astoria, my mother and my mother-in-law. I always enjoy it here, and if the chaos gets too bed here I can always escape with Andromeda to her apartment. I'll even help with the child care."

* * *

All the Potter and Weasley cousins were already at The New Burrow and Potter's New Burrow when Scorpius and Cleo arrived. The day was hot, and shortly after arrival, after putting their possessions away, the cousins all decided to go swimming.

Cleo was excited to go swimming. She purchased a swimsuit during one of the times she and Albus had been at Grimmauld Place. When they arrived at the pond, Cleo shouted "WATER! SWIMMING!" and she ran into the water and swam out to the raft. She climbed up on to the raft, jumped back in the water and swam back to shore. "I grew up around the water!" she whooped. "I don't know how I know but I know I grew up around the water and was swimming when I was little and I love it and this pond is fantastic and come in," and she pulled Al into the water.

Ginny, sitting on the shore watching, laughed at the couple. Albus was obviously enjoying himself. Praise Merlin Al could put up with and even enjoy Cleopatra's at times frantic moods.

Al and Cleo swam around together for quite some time, Cleo in her most excited state, Al smiling and trying to keep up with her. Al was a skinny little guy, and it was hard for him to stay afloat; Cleo had plenty of extra padding, and she swam like she was born in the water. They finally climbed onto the raft, and both of them lay down next to each other.

Cleo was talking excitedly to Al, and Al was not saying a lot but was smiling at Cleo. Al mostly watched at the sky, although he would occasionally look over at Cleo. Cleo mostly watched Al, although she would occasionally look up at the sky, especially when Al pointed something out to Cleo.

Later that afternoon, Ginny and Harry went for a walk to the pond and spent several minutes watching Al and Cleo on the raft. Ginny looked at them, and told Harry, "It's probably a good thing you did not become my boyfriend that first summer you were at our house. I could have ended up pregnant my fifth year."

"Are you worried about Al and Cleo?" a concerned Harry asked.

"Only a little right now," Ginny elaborated, "because they are both trying to be good. Al is too young yet. He has just turned twelve, but he has not started puberty. He is not really late. I expect the hormones to kick in soon. Cleo is only a half a year older. She turned twelve Christmas day. She just started earlier. At eleven and a half she entered Hogwarts having had her first period, and her hormones have been raging ever since. Her hips were never small, but they have become much bigger. She started the year with breast buds, but she's started to develop noticeable breasts now. Mother Minerva has spells she uses when a young girl buys foundations to tell how big a girl is going to be, and it is lucky witches have levitation spells. Cleo is not really fat, a little heavy in the middle, but not fat like mum and me. There is just a lot of her, and it looks like there will be even more of her."

Harry contemplated the two children. "I know they are a couple. Albus seems to take her and their relationship in stride, like he seems to take everything. Not much can rattle him. How bad does Cleo have it for Al? You talk to Cleo."

"Remember when you took Al to Hogwarts to ask about the wand?" replied Ginny, more looking out at the middle of the pond than looking at Harry. "Cleo was waiting at the kitchen table. I asked her if Al was her boyfriend. She said no, she was too young to have a boyfriend, but," Ginny turned and looked right at Harry, "if she did have a boyfriend Al was probably it. Then she looked at me and stuck her elbow in the butter dish."

Harry looked at Ginny, and just shook his head. "As bad as you the first time I sat at your parents' kitchen table," Harry muttered. "That bad?"

"I had a real hard time not laughing," Ginny giggled, both of them remembering Ginny putting her elbow in the butter dish between Harry's first and second year at Hogwarts . "I think Al is like you. He will probably insist on waiting until they are married. I don't think she will be any more patient than I was, though."

"Merlin help us," Harry exclaimed. "Don't you dare give her that _Touch-of-Lust_ spell."

"He'd better help us," Ginny agreed, obviously worried. "Al has Merlin's wand. The _Touch-of-Lust_ spell passes mother to daughter. I'm going to try and make sure neither Lilly nor Minerva have a copy of it until they are safely married."

"How well has that worked with your ancestors?" Harry kidded Ginny.

"It hasn't, Ginny ruefully admitted. "You heard Minerva McGonagall, when we told her we were getting married on my seventeenth birthday. My female ancestors have been a randy lot." Grinning Ginny hugged Harry. "You are one lucky guy marrying one of us randy girls." They passionately kissed; Harry was not going to object to Ginny's at times over the top desires.

* * *

The next day the cousins and some of their friends played Quidditch. Rose brought out some books to read. Cleopatra announced that she would rather play with baby Minerva, and returning to the house.

Scorpius tried several positions. He was not horrible, but he was not good. After about an hour, as the crowd was sitting down taking a break, Albus sat next to Scorpius and asked him, "How badly do you want to learn to play?"

"I'd really rather watch than play," Scorpius replied with a shrug. "I know my father would like it if I was seeker on the Slytherin team, but I've no great desire to be a sports hero. I do not think I will ever be good enough to play for the school team." Scorpius handed the family broom back to Al. (if the above question was on the ground, maybe he handed Al back the broom, or if it was in the air, he flew down to the ground)

When Scorpius left Al, Rose beckoned him to join her, and the two lost themselves in books. They seemed excited about what they were reading, but occasionally they seemed to be arguing. Albus watched as the two sat at a table outside adsorbed in the books and each other.

Towards the end of the day Cleo finally appeared, a dark baby over her shoulder. The baby was falling asleep, and Cleo was rocking back and forth as she was walking. By the time she arrived at the Quidditch pitch the baby was sleeping, and Cleo sat down with the baby in her lap.

"I'm watching Barack," Cleo explained. "Grandmum is working with the elves on dinner.

"I love being a girl," Cleo told Albus. "I can't wait until I'm a mother. I don't mind at all being shaped like a girl, but it is hard when people call you fat. Your mother and grandmother try to tell me I'm just curvy and sort of big, but too many people call me fat."

"I like you just the way you are," Albus told Cleo.

"That doesn't help at all," Cleo complained. "Mother Minerva and the healers agree. I'll get bigger hips, get bigger on top, and probably grow another inch or two in height. I'm going to tower over your dad and mum, and probably over you as well."

Late that night Albus had the chance to talk to his mother alone. "Cleo is big, but she's not really fat, is she?" Albus asked.

"I think most girls her age are worried that they are too big or too small, have too much shape or not enough. There is no reason for Cleo to be worried about her shape," Ginny reassured Albus. "Grandmum and I keep telling her that her shape if fine. It just doesn't help that Astoria has been telling her she's fat since she came to live with them at five, and that the papers and some of the children have started calling her fat as well."

"I don't mind that I'm small," Albus told his mother. "You are tiny, and dad is short, so I'll probably always be small. That doesn't bother me. I wish Cleo's shape didn't bother her."

* * *

A week and a half before school was scheduled to start, Minerva McGonagall arrived at Potter's New Burrow in the middle of the afternoon. She spent some time with Ginny and her namesake, little Minerva, and agreed to stay for dinner. Shortly before dinner, Albus, accompanied by Cleo, approached her. "Professor McGonagall, do you think we could have an optional religious service next year at school?"

Minerva asked, "What kind of service were you thinking? Did you joined a church? If they are Christians, most belong to the Wizarding Christian Church, instead of being Anglican, in England, or Catholic in Italy, or some other denomination."

Albus pondered the question. "Most of us are Christian if we are anything, but I know there are people of other faiths. All the Magi I know that are Christian belong to the Wizarding church. Bishop Scherica says that Magi established their own denomination before any of the other Christians split apart into different denominations, because of the problem of magic and prophecy and being Christian. The Edington families are Christians. The Brant family is more Christian than anything else, although I do not think they go to church very often. I know the French Canadians are Jewish. The Chinese are Buddhists, sort of, but I think they are mostly secular. The ones with Native American ancestry all seem to have some connection to Native American religions. Joshua's father is a bishop in the Magi church, but also a shaman, and his mother is an Indian prophetess. It is a real strange mix. I would think most of our services would be Christian, Magi Christian, but not all of them."

"Would this be a closed club, Albus," Minerva inquired.

"I would think it would be open to all, and we could publish what we will be doing each week," Albus theorized. "Whatever you wanted, professor."

"Give us plenty of notice when you invite someone from the outside to talk to you or conduct services," Minerva cautioned Albus. "We do not let anyone who wants to come into Hogwarts. We are concerned about security. You of all people should know that. I would think that the Fat Friar would love to help with this."

"Yes, professor," Albus promptly agreed.

* * *

Later that evening Albus asked his parents, "I would like to go over to Switzerland to talk to Bishop Scherica about our Saturday meetings, if that is alright with you. He should know who would be available to meet with us, to conduct services. He may even be able to help with the other religions. He may know a Rabbi who is a Magi, and maybe a Buddhist monk who is a Magi as well."

"Let me call Apollo," Harry replied.

The next morning Jim Shook, one of the Aurors that protected the Potter and Weasley families, arrived at Potters New Burrow to talk to Albus. "I'm going to accompany you and Frerin to Switzerland this afternoon," he told Al.

In 'safe spaces' it was easy to forget his Elf shadow, but Frerin was always visible and close to Albus whenever he was out in public.

When they arrived, Bishop Apollo Scherica greeted Albus warmly. "You want to restart religious services at Hogwarts?" he asked.

"Were there religious services there at one time?" Al asked.

"At one time everyone was required to be Christian in England, although only some of the Magi went to church and formally joined a church. Some were Druids, and many of them tried to avoid any religions services," Apollo explained. "The Magi often kept themselves hidden, and the Magi Christian church was never affiliated with the Church of England. The Magi Christian Church is an Eastern Rite church, but it is mostly hidden from the other churches. It has been a long time since there were regular religious services at Hogwarts."

"I'm a Christian, at least I think I am," Albus explained. "I was baptized. I know I believe in God and an afterlife, and I cannot see becoming anything else. I don't want to force my views on anyone else. We have Jews, Buddhists, and people who practice some of the Native American religions as well as Christianity. Could we have a weekly meeting, but only have a formal Christian church service half the time. I would like to learn how the other religions incorporate magic into their beliefs."

"Politically I think that would be a very good way to start holding services," Apollo agreed. "I have just passed the Patriarchy on to another Bishop, and can free up over half my Saturday evenings. I think Bishop Qaletaga would also be willing to help. I will try and see if I can find a Rabbi and a Buddhist monk to help."

Albus and Apollo spent a couple of hours talking, before Al and his guards went back to safe space at the New Burrow property.

* * *

A couple of nights later Al went down to the Potions room at Grimmauld Place with his father, and Cleo asked to tag along. "It is surprisingly hard teaching people how to make potions to treat the paper," Harry explained to Cleopatra, handing her the instructions he had written down. She read the instructions, and then watched what Harry and Al did as they waved their wands over the paper.

When they both finished making mapping paper, Cleo looked back at the instructions. "You are missing some subtle parts of the spell," she informed the pair.

"Where?" Harry asked.

"For example," Cleo continued, "where you wave the wand ten times at each corner of the paper. You just say, wave the wand ten times, but both you and Al do a one, two, three, four, five, slight pause, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, slightly longer pause as you move to the next corner.

"I can see something subtle happening at the pause between five and six, and another pause between ten and the next one. The pauses mix the magic that flows over the paper just enough to do a better job coating the paper."

"How do you know that?" Harry asked.

"Oh, I can see it, but I cannot really describe it," Cleo pondered. "It's a people color, not a red, or green, or blue or white, but people, but it's not people, it's the color people. Well, there really isn't a color people, but it is a people color. I don't know how to describe it, except it is really important to having beings appear on the map."

"Professor McGonagall says you can see what Cleo is seeing, Al," Harry commented. "Is that what you see?"

Al had been trying to look at the magic through Cleo's eyes, but it was harder than normal to see what she was seeing. The soul bond, that at times allowed each of them to see through each other's eyes, wasn't working very well. "I honestly do not know, Dad," Albus finally admitted, very frustrated. "Her description of what she is seeing is better than anything I could describe. She is just seeing things in a magical dimension that no Muggle and few Magi can see."

2019


	3. Ch 3 The Train Ride and Sorting

Ch 3 The Train Ride and Sorting

Thanks as always to JK Rowling, who lets us play in the universe she created. I am using Mafalda Weasley as a character, but of course other than being in Slytherin and not being a heroine type of character, she is totally of my creation.

More major changes because Deb, my Beta, makes sure the story makes sense. Thank you, Deb. Reviews will make both of us happy.

* * *

It was August 31, 2018, the day before the students were to leave for Hogwarts. All of the Magi and Elves learning languages, or MELLS as they called themselves, were at Potter's New Burrow or the New Burrow. Most of them had arrived by Floo, or by the North American equivalent, Closets. Harry had installed one of the magical Closets, which used a similar green powder, which took the place of the Floo network in North America. None of the families had used the Magic Carpet network that was common in the Mid-East and Africa, since there were no Magic Carpets in Britain. Magical Carpets were illegal in Britain. The parents of the Magi accompanied them, and the Elves came along with the Magi families. Only Harry and Ginny were at Potter's New Burrow; to allow both The New Burrow and Potter's New Burrow to house the families of the students raised with Elves.

On the morning the train was leaving, Professors Sidney and Kim Stanford came to Potter's New Burrow, along with their three children. Ruth and Abraham Stanford had been sorted into Slytherin, at their request. The Stanford parents suggested that the students volunteer for Slytherin, both because it was the smallest house, and because they wanted to change the character of the house, and their children had agreed. Apparently, the hat had agreed as well, because it sorted them into Slytherin. Their youngest, Jacob was not starting for another year.

"Senda Eseven, Hermann Brandt, please come with me," Kim called those who were too young to attend Hogwarts. "Students are not allowed to ride the Hogwarts Express until their first year."

With a fair amount of grumbling and pouting, Senda and Hermann left through the Floo with the Stanfords.

Galadriel walked into the group just as the Stanfords were leaving. "I have Apparated here," she announced. "We have an area at Hogwarts that the elves can use to Apparate into and out of Hogwarts. I am taking the Elves with me."

The Elves that were part of the MELL group left with Galadriel. Dis, who was nominally a Malfoy Elf, but in reality was a guard for Cleo, and her brother Frerin P/W, who always shadowed Albus, were of course going to ride the Hogwarts Express with them. Although large for Elves, both were usually so quiet that it was easy to forget that they were there.

"I want all of you in three or four compartments, close together," Harry Potter informed the group. We will have extra guards on the train. I want all of you in compartments a half hour before the train leaves. We have one extra person riding with Al and Rose, their cousin Ivana Romanoff. Her adopted father is Al and Rose's uncle."

Gabrielle talked to some of the students, and announced, "The Edingtons, Adel Brandt, Jean-Louis, Maria and Jesus Rios are riding with me."

Scorpius was talking to the Native American students. He looked at Rose, and she proclaimed, "Scorpius and I will go with Harry Eseven, Joshua and Sarah Firewalker."

Albus then acknowledged, "That leaves Ivana, John and Marcy Chang, Harry and Ginny Wang, to ride with Cleo and me."

The students and their parents were taken to the train by Floo. They chose adjoining compartments in the same train car, and settled themselves in, as other people were just starting to arrive.

* * *

As soon as the train left the station, all the parents of the students raised with Elves took one of the train station's Floo connections to one of the offices of Dursley, Potter and Weasley. In a large conference room were Al and Carrie Van Lente of the International Aurors Association, Raphael Vaud, the head of the Swiss Aurors, and a number of other Aurors from around the world of the Magi.

Harry spoke first. "If your students didn't tell you, they have chosen a name for their group. They are the Magi and Elves Learning Languages, or MELL's for short."

"We are worried about security," Al announced, gaining everyone's attention. "The attack on Albus during the first Quidditch game last year, the bomb that could have killed four of the students in Switzerland, and some other rumors and intelligence, worries us as it must worry you. We are going to increase the number of people patrolling the grounds. There will be staff stationed inside Hogwarts as well. The professors all know what we are doing and they are going to be working with us. Unless you object, Raphael and I want to appoint Gabriel Habsburg, Raphael's predecessor, as head of security at Hogwarts. He will reside in the castle with his wife, Hermeli, who is also a qualified Auror. Although they will be the only Aurors staying inside the school grounds, we will have a larger group of Department of Magical Law Enforcement personnel, assisted by some Elf assistants, patrolling the outside of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade."

The parents, many of whom were concerned about their children's safety, agreed.

Joseph Marie Felion Jr., the father of Gabrielle, started to complain, "How do you know that our children are safe? You had a Chinese teacher hurt your son, Harry, last year. You have replaced your Chinese Potions teacher with another pair of Chinese Potion teachers. How do we know we can trust them?"

T.T. Chang defended them. "I did not know Dragon Chen, although I do know of his family. Elessar & Arwen Wong have been my students, and I know their extended family well. I can vouch for them. I'm worried about the teachers who run that 'slippery-in' house. Olivia Ollivander seems to me like one of the Ollivanders who doesn't care if their wands are used for good or evil. I know the Ollivander family has lusted after powerful wands, and I do not trust her. I'm not sure I trust any wand maker. I was shocked that the wand that Cleopatra now uses left China. I don't know what Ollie Ollivander did to leave with that wand."

Harry pondered answering T.T. "Slytherin house has produced more than its fair share of dark Magi," he admitted. "Olivia has been teaching for over a decade, not without a little controversy. Slytherin is still more secretive than Minerva and some of the other staff and I would like. Albus is in Slytherin, and I expect big changes in that house eventually. For all her Pure-Blood prejudice, I have a hard time believing that Olivia would deliberately hurt a student."

"What about the non-teaching staff?" Joseph Marie persisted. "Argus Filch, the old caretaker, is just mean, but his new assistant, Igor Karloff, worries me. Then you have Bowman Flint, who ought to be in some prison for just shear nastiness. I know he lives next to the sewage treatment plant, and doesn't have anything to do with the students. He is still within the wards of the castle, and can go into and out of the grounds on his own."

"Bowman cannot bring anyone into the grounds by himself," Harry replied. "He goes to the Hogs Head and gets drunk on occasion, but the Davies know how to handle him. Tracy VanDer Raaltee is related to them, and she is our primary school teacher on the grounds, so when Bowman is too drunk to go home by himself Tracy and Roger bring him home. I do not have any reason to trust him, but I'm not sure how he could be a problem either. Argus vouches for Igor. We are watching him to make sure he is nothing more than unpleasant."

There was a good deal more grumbling about Hogwarts, but eventually the meeting broke up, and Harry left for Hogwarts.

* * *

When the students, arrived at Hogwarts, Hagrid bellowed, "First years, any new students, come with me."

Rose explained, "If this is your first year at Hogwarts you need to be sorted into a house."

There was some grumbling by the older students, but Hagrid led them all to the boats to travel to the castle. Albus noticed that three other people, he thought they were Aurors, accompanied Hagrid.

Adel Brandt noticed Albus' curious gaze and explained, before she went with Hagrid, "The older woman going with us is Mrs. Habsburg, and her husband is going with the other students. Mr. Habsburg was the head of the Swiss Aurors, and his wife is also an Auror."

There were what looked like Aurors accompanying the older students as well.

Once they arrived at the Hogwarts Castle, Rose sat with Cleo, and their friends Hanna McGonagall, Patty Finnegan and Christy Shook at the Gryffindor table in the great hall. Rose tried to identify the students led in for the sorting, so she could tell who some of the people were. She did not recognize as many of the people as she thought she would.

Xenia Berry was sorted into Hufflepuff. "We know Xenia from church," Rose whispered to her friends.

Ade Brandt, John and Marcy Chang were promptly send to Slytherin, as was Bennett Davis.

Gabrielle DuMond seemed rather please to be sorted into Ravenclaw. "She is very bossy," Rose observed softly, "and she doesn't like Scorpius or Cleo. I'm glad she is not in Gryffindor."

Harry and Luta Edington were sent to Slytherin, as was Harry Eseven making the three friends quite happy. Rose thought it was hilarious how Harry's parents chose their last name, turning the Canadian E-7 identifier into Eseven was mocking the Canadian government.

Jean-Louis Felion was sorted into Ravenclaw. Rose murmured, "Jean-Louis and Gabrielle are cousins."

Joshua Firewalker was sorted into Hufflepuff. "First of the Elf Friends in Hufflepuff," Rose quietly remarked. "I didn't expect that. He is a nice person, though, and he should fit well in there."

Sarah Firewalker was sorted into Ravenclaw.

When Hudson Jordan was sorted into Gryffindor, Rose observed, "Hudson's father works for my dad and Uncle George at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes."

Edmund Lewis was sorted into Ravenclaw, and Rose whispered to Cleo, "His father is pastor of St. Merlin and Mungo's in London, the church we attend."

William Lionheart Jr. was sorted into Hufflepuff, and Rose commented, "Bill and his sister Erica fly with the Weasley clan when they can. They are both very good at Quidditch. I think his sister likes James, but James has just noticed that Erica is a girl."

Maria and Jesus Rios were sorted into Slytherin.

Ivana Romanoff was sorted into Gryffindor. James Potter and Rose both stood up and waved her over to the Gryffindor table.

Cleo had met Ivana when she was staying at Potter's New Burrow, and hugged Ivana, welcoming her into Gryffindor. Then Ivana sat with the other first year Gryffindor girls.

The sorting was almost finished when Harry and Ginny Wang were sorted into Slytherin.

When the hat sorted Bert Weasley into Hufflepuff, Rose mumbled to Cleo, "He is one of a whole hoard of Weasley cousins. His sister and some other cousins are also in Hufflepuff. They are mostly farmers, and some of them work for Uncle Harry. His parents work for Uncle Harry."

"You are a Weasley," Patty Finnegan observed, listening in on Rose's running commentary. "How many Weasley cousins are there?"

"Granger-Weasley," Rose promptly corrected. "I'm not sure. They are all over England, with some in North America and others on the continent. It's a really big extended family."

Right after Bert was a girl who looked like a Weasley, red hair, freckles, and all. Rose did not recognize her, and was surprised when Professor Longbottom announced, "Mafalda Weasley." The girl strutted up to the hat like she was the most important person there, plopping the hat on her head, and looked right at the Slytherin table. The hat sent her to Slytherin." She sneered at the other houses before proudly trotting over to the Slytherin table.

"A Weasley in Slytherin?" Rose sputtered. "I have to ask my dad if he knows who she is."

After the sorting, Cleo pondered the situation, remarking to Rose, "None of the students who can speak Elfish were sorted into Gryffindor. I'm not sorry that Gabrielle was not sorted into Gryffindor. She is smart, and she and her cousin may fit in Ravenclaw. She really does not like me, though. I was surprised that the Firewalker cousins were sorted into different houses. Sarah is bright, and I guess she would fit in Ravenclaw. Why is Joshua not in Ravenclaw? He is the only Elfish speaker in Hufflepuff."

Rose remarked, "I'm more interested in what is going to happen when the Slytherin students find out that most of the people sorted are allies of Albus and Scorpius. Even Bennet Davis should be an ally of Al; we know the Davis family, and they are not exactly fans of the worst of the Pure Blood nonsense. We will have to ask them about Mafalda. She doesn't look like a very nice person."

* * *

Professor McGonagall stood up and spoke. "I want to welcome all students, new and old. We have a larger than normal number of students from outside of Great Britain this year. We should all try to make them feel welcome. Hogwarts continues to grow, with more students from Great Britain and an increasing number from other countries. We have twenty students, four from Great Britain and sixteen who have just joined us, who are here with their Elves. All twenty of these students are learning to speak Elfish, and will be spending some time working with the Elves. We at Hogwarts are proud to have one of the best schools for Elves in the world.

"For several reasons, including some of the foreign students, we have increased the security in and around the castle. I want to introduce Mr. & Mrs. Habsburg, who will be living in the castle." She motioned for them to stand. "You should all meet them over the next year. If you have any concerns about security please let one of them know. Mr. Habsburg has just retired as the Head Auror in Switzerland, and his wife is a fully qualified Auror.

"There are areas in the castle and around the grounds that are forbidden, including the forested area beyond the lake. You need to ask permission to leave the secure area around the castle. As tomorrow is Sunday, there are no classes. Feel free to explore the castle. You will receive class schedules in morning. I suggest you at least read the introduction for any classes you will have Monday.

"For tonight, enjoy the opening banquet, and enjoy your time at Hogwarts."

* * *

Before the end of the feast, Gabriel and Hermeli Habsburg left their seats at the head table to see Olivia Ollivander. "You have been hard to find," Gabriel declared. "We need to talk to you about security in the Slytherin dormitory."

"There is nothing to talk about," Olivia snapped. "The prefects in Slytherin have everything under control."

"All the dormitories have more than one entrance. We need to make sure fireplaces cannot be used to Floo. We need to know where any other ways to enter and exit the dorms are. We have a reasonably good map, but we need to see the inside," Gabriel insisted.

"True Pure-Blooded Slytherin students still run Slytherin," Olivia sneered. "You do NOT have my permission to hassle the students."

Harry Potter, wearing his invisibility cloak, listened to the exchange. Harry was concerned about Olivia Ollivander. So far, Urban Ubridge had just been a not too bright teacher, totally under the thumb of Olivia. Harry doubted Urban was a risk, since he had been teaching for longer than Olivia, and never had caused anyone to doubt his loyalty to Hogwarts.

Harry accompanied Gabriel and Hermeli up to Minerva's office after the banquet.

* * *

When the Slytherin students went into their dorm, Tom Riddle Handley was there, and he was telling all the new students, "Stand against that wall."

Albus had warned his new classmates about the previous year, and he and Scorpius quietly told them, "Sit down."

Tom became agitated, shouting, "New students against that wall."

Albus countered with, "What are you doing here, Tom? I know you are an eighth year student, but you are no longer a prefect, and you have no place trying to run Slytherin."

Tom yelled, "I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE HERE, AND YOU KNOW IT."

Quietly Albus continued, "My father and I met …"

Tom yelled over him, "SHUT UP, YOU STINKING MUDBLOOD. I AM STILL THE LEADER HERE, AND NO STUPID STINKING MUDBLOOD CAN TAKE OVER FROM US PURE BLOODED ARISTOCRACY."

Tom continued his rants while all the other students sat quietly listening. Albus slipped out his Magi Mobil and whispered to Maria Rios, "I'm sending this to Professor McGonagall." He then gave Maria the mobile, and she quietly took video of Tom's rants.

After the opening banquet Harry Potter, the Habsburgs, and Professor Sidney Sanford went up to Minerva's office. They were not there long when Minerva's Magi Mobile rang, and the five of them could see that someone was sending them a video of Tom Riddle Handley's rant.

Minerva conjured her Patronus. The next thing Tom knew, he was confronted by Minerva's Patronus saying, "Tom, you know you are not allowed in the Slytherin dormitory after hours. You have your own room in the Eight Year housing. Leave now if you do not want to be expelled from Hogwarts."

Tom growled as he turned and instructed Archana Lucy and Tom Higgy, "You know what to do," before storming off.

Tom Higgy stood up, glanced at Albus, and proceeded to speak. "I am Tom Higgy, and I am one of the seventh year prefects. Archana Lucy is the other seventh year prefect. Orion Cowley and Bellatrix Haney are the sixth year prefects, and Victor Valsey and Katherine Wilkes are the fifth year prefects." The prefects stood up when they were announced. "To our great surprise and dismay, Slytherin is no longer pure, but the leaders of Slytherin have always been of Pure Blood. Introduce yourself, and tell us if you are Pure Blooded."

Albus nodded towards the Wang siblings, and they stood up.

"I am Harry Wang," Harry announced.

His sister continued with, "I am his younger sister Ginny Wang. Our great-grandfather is WW Chang, the Chinese Minister of Magic."

The brother and sister sat down. Tom scowled at them, saying, "You need to tell us if you are Pure Blooded."

Harry kidded, "Yes, we are pure blooded Han Chinese."

Albus nodded at the other Chinese couple, and John and Marcy stood up. John snidely remarked, "We are pure Han Chinese as well. I'm John Chang, and my sister is Marcy. Our grandfather is TT Chang, the co-author, along with Albus' Aunt Hermione, of the Potion textbooks that almost all the Magi in the world use. Like Albus and his cousin Rose, we have made all the potions in the first of the text books."

"Are you …" Tom tried to interject, but before he could say any more another two students stood up.

"I'm Henry Edington," Henry loudly proclaimed.

"I am his cousin Luta Edington," a girl immediately followed with. "Our grandmother is the North American Minister of Magic. We are Americans, which usually involved being very modern. We are way ahead of most countries in our ability to use the best of No-maj technology along with the best magic. My mother is Korean, and in American, we are proud of how marrying people who are of a different race or nationality gives us hybrid vigor.

"I have heard of how some people are concerned with the myth of Blood Purity. I never anticipated meeting someone so stupid as to believe it, though. We in America are proud of what we have done, and are not so technologically and magically inferior that we have to look back on some stupid blood purity myth to feel we have some sense of worth."

Another couple stood up. "I am Maria Rios, and my little brother is Jesus. We are West Coast Americans. Our mother is the head of the largest magical school in the world, in Los Angeles, California. We are also at the center of blending the magic of modern No-maj Technology with the magic of magic."

"I'm Adel Brandt," another student proclaimed. "My younger brother will be starting at Hogwarts next year. Meanwhile he is staying at Hogwarts castle with the Stanford family, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professors. We are descendants of the Swiss Minister of Magic. The Swiss valley has Magi in it from all over the world. It is where the International Council of Witches and Wizards is held. Many of the ancient treasures of the Magi are stored there."

"I'm Ujarek Harry Eseven, and my ancestors have lived around the Arctic Circle for generations. Life is tough up there, and we do not suffer fools. If we had to worry about blood purity, we would probably be extinct. My sister Senda is also staying with the Stanfords, and will be a first year next year."

A young boy stood up. "I'm Bennett Davies. My parents own the Hogs Head in Hogsmeade. It is strange going to London to ride a train to Hogsmeade to get to Hogwarts, seeing as how we live in Hogsmeade."

"Are YOU pure blooded?" Tom asked.

Albus shook his head 'no,' as did several others.

"I'm not going to answer that question," Bennett replied, as he sat down.

"I'm Mafalda Weasley, and I'm Pure Blooded!" a young girl eagerly volunteered. "I have Malfoy, Black, Wilkes, Hanley and Lestrange blood. Unfortunately, I am also related to those blood traitors, the Weasley's. Potter's mother is a Weasley. Blood traitors all of them."

Tom Higgy sneered, "You still look like a Weasley, but you will do." Mafalda did have the red hair and fair, freckled complexion of so many of the Weasley cousins.

Al and Scorpius had been modifying the list of students in Slytherin as the sorting was taking place. Scorpius stood up and announced, "Al and I have a list of all the students in Slytherin, along with what year they are in."

"You do not run Slytherin!" Tom Higgy exclaimed furiously, storming up to Albus and poking his finger into Albus' chest.

"I think Albus probably does," Adel Brandt laughed. "Mr. and Mrs. Habsburg talked to Albus and me, not you."

"Albus is only a second year student," Tom Higgy ranted. "He is not a prefect. And you, you are just a filthy foreigner. We and the head of Slytherin, Professor Ollivander, chooses the prefects, and the prefects run Slytherin."

All the MELL's at the meeting, except Albus, laughed. Albus just smiled. All of the students, even Tom Higgy, took the student list that Scorpius compiled on parchment, and that Al had duplicated on paper.

Tom Higgy looked at the paper list, scowled at Albus, and then announced, "You new boys, I have another dorm room for you. I have been warned that nine is too many for one dorm room, so I'm putting the new boys in a different room.

"Archana Lucy will take the new second year girls to their room. Orion Cowley will take the first year boys to their room, and Bellatrix Haney will take the girls."

Once they were in their dormitory, Albus took out one of his maps, one that just showed the Slytherin part of the Castle. When everybody was in the dormitory room they were assigned to, he duplicated the map with the names of each student clearly identified. Then he fixed the map, so that people did not move. Albus ended up with a map clearly showing where everyone's dormitory was located. Al put the map aside to deal with later.

Albus had left his mobile on until all the new students had introduced themselves, and the people meeting in Minerva's office all listened. When the mobile finally hung up, Gabriel commented, "There is a lot going on that I don't understand. How can one house not be under the headmaster's rule? That doesn't make sense at all. It's not Hogwarts and Slytherin, it's Hogwarts and Slytherin is a house in it."

"Minerva explained, "It is only inside the Slytherin Dormitory, and in appointing prefects, where my authority is limited. Salazar Slytherin set it up that way, before he left the school, and even after he left he set it up so we would have an almost impossible time changing it. I can veto the choice of a prefect, but not appoint one. I understand that even some of the Slytherin heads of house have complained that they could not change how Slytherin is governed. Bullying and other abuses have taken place in that dormitory, and I have to leave it to the Slytherin parents and governors to deal with it."

"Is that why is Olivia so resistant to helping us?" Gabriel asked, puzzled.

Minerva tried to explain. "Slytherin has always been the most difficult house to govern. The charter of the school requires that each house head has to be a professor that graduated from that house. We have to have professors who graduated from Slytherin, and one of them has to be appointed head of house.

"The other professors usually talk about who would be best to be head of house for Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor. The decisions have normally been made together. Slytherin has seldom asked for nor accepted any help in choosing their heads. Frequently their heads have been the most difficult to work with."

Harry could not help himself, commenting, "Even Snape?"

"It may be hard for you to believe, Harry," Minerva elaborated, "but from personal knowledge and what I have read, Professor Snape was not the most difficult of the heads of Slytherin. He did ask the rest of us about who to choose as prefects. He was under pressure from parents of students, however, something he complained about."

"Who appoints the head of Slytherin house? Do the Slytherin professors agree among themselves?" Gabriel asked.

Minerva further elaborated. "The Slytherin board members maintain a control over the house that is unusual. Niles Hanley and Wendell Wilkes are the current members of our board that were in Slytherin."

"Wendell is related to a Wilkes who was a Death Eater, but he is just a true believer that pure blooded wizards are better," Harry informed the group. "Niles Hanley is one of five families that we have been investigating for the last twenty years, for the Ministry and also for the Crown. The other families are Lestrange, Malfoy, Rosier and Yaxley. Except for the Malfoy family, all are headed by a man who is cruel. Lucius Malfoy was as bad as any of these five. The investigation has to do with finance, property, and how these families earn some of the money they keep accumulating. From looking at what records we have on previous investigations, cruelty seems to be a key feature of all of these families."

"A male member of one of these families has always been on the Hogwarts board," Minerva informed the group.

"I am as worried about Tom Riddle Hanley as about any members of the staff," Harry declared. "I don't trust him. I would like to have the ghosts and elves watch him, but once he is in the Slytherin dorm there is nothing we can do."

"Will the Slytherin ghosts help?" Hermeli Habsburg asked.

"Everyone is afraid of the Bloody Baron," Minerva explained. "There is another Slytherin ghost, also ironically named Scorpius Malfoy. That ghost is terrified of the Bloody Baron, and is just useless. Those are the only ghosts who can go into the Slytherin dormitory. The Elves do clean, but only certain Elves. The Elves have been a help in finding out what goes on in that house, and we have expelled a couple of students because of their testimony and help. The problem is that under the old house-elf rules a house-elf had to be totally subservient to the people they served, and so the house-elves often felt that they could not tell us of the evil things that occasionally went on in that house. As the Elves have become more independent they have stepped in at times, but their ability to change Slytherin is limited. I think some headmasters were also reluctant to ask for help from the Elves, just treating them as dumb servants. We had a few portraits willing to help at one time, but they have been removed as well."

"It sounds like we are going to have to rely on Albus and his friends," Gabriel proposed. "I will send them a Magi Mobil message, and try to meet with them tomorrow.

"All of the students raised with Elves carry a Magi Mobil. It serves as a Portkey if the student is captured or injured, sending them to the hospital wing. It alerts us at the same time. It can be used by the students to send text messages to each other, but is otherwise very restricted. They should be set up so they cannot use them as a telephone nor as a smartphone while they are at Hogwarts. Harry, how come Albus could use his mobile as a smartphone?"

"Because he is Albus?" Harry suggested. "I think Albus knows almost all the seventh year spells. He can make maps better than I can, and has invented some extensions of the map-making spells. If you do not want him to do something, tell him. Never assume he is too young and cannot do it yet."

The five talked well into the evening, and it was close to midnight before Harry arrived back at Grimmauld Place.

* * *

HOME! It always felt good to be home. Harry said goodbye to Dobedo, his Elf shadow and bodyguard, and headed upstairs to their bedroom. THEIR Bedroom. Here at their home he wasn't just Harry Potter, he was half of the Harry and Ginny Potter couple, parent to the growing Potter family. He felt complete in a way he never felt before he and Ginny married, sharing their lives, sharing their bodies.

Ginny was sitting up in bed, dozing, Minerva sleeping on her lap. It looked like she had been reading, probably notes from her stringers at the various Quidditch teams. The fall season was starting next weekend. She wore one of the lightweight pajama tops that buttoned up the front, but none of the buttons was fastened, and those magnificent breasts were exposed. They were just tight enough that Ginny was going to want to nurse before sex; as they occasionally leaked, but if they were too tight, they squirted. It was just a lot more complicated being female, especially being a nursing mother.

Harry used the loo, shaved, and stripped, and took a quick shower. He was probably going to make love to Ginny, and he thought about the five families, and the harshness of some of the men in those families. He knew, from his experiences with domestic violence, that some men never made love, but forced themselves on wives and other women to take 'pleasure.' It was a weird kind of pleasure, one that left the female unsatisfied at best, but more often hurting and devastated. Harry used a spell to help him focus his attention on pleasing Ginny, and away from all the sad stories of men who did not love.

Ginny woke up to see a naked and turned on Harry coming towards their bed. She wiggled her bust, showed off her shape, and held out her hand to Harry. Her balance was still terrible, ever since that Quidditch accident, but Harry would help her to their bathroom, and she would touch him and tease him along the way.

Back in bed, Harry did not even ask. He gently picked up Minerva, checked to see if she was wet, and then handed their latest creation to her. Minerva was just the best baby. She would nurse, then go to sleep for six hours or so. Minerva slept at night, slept when Ginny needed a nap, and was awake when Ginny or anyone wanted to play. She was just the best baby you could imagine. Harry remembered the prophets saying, before they had any children, that the odds peaked at three, and then again at six. Ginny was not talking about having any more children, but Harry wondered.

Ginny thought, as Harry led her to their bed, that it was always hard when your children left for school. At least Harry was usually in bed with her, in her body in that way that gave her, them, so much pleasure.

Harry fell asleep feeling very satisfied. Life was not perfect, but it was very good.

Ginny could not fall asleep. Ginny always prided herself on making things happen, but she had to admit that being female involved a lot of letting things happen. The male went into you, and you allowed it. If you were a loving couple you did more than just allow it, and Ginny did everything to make Harry and her experience as good as it could be, but you still allowed him into your body.

If you did not do something to prevent it, you allowed your body to become pregnant, and then you shared your body with another person for months. Then you fed this other person with your body, and allowed him or her to dictate your schedule, at least partially. That started with Teddy. When she talked Harry into letting her have the Mother Minerva's Bra that let her nurse Teddy, and then became his surrogate mother for those early months, she could not accompany Harry on his trips. She was tied to Teddy, letting his needs dictate what she could and could not do.

Maybe she was thinking this way because two of her children had just left for Hogwarts. That was another kind of letting go. As a mother, there was a desire to keep your children close. James was hurt by that Potions professor, and he still bore some of the scars. There was a world of reasons to be worried about Albus. And Teddy, not the child of her body but in so many ways her child, he was in the International Aurors, and might be going under cover. If Teddy married and had children, she and Harry had already decided that they would be the other set of grandparents to Teddy's children.

Ginny's arms were around Harry, holding him close. Minerva would need to nurse again in a few hours, and she needed to sleep. Life was not perfect, but it was very good.

2019


	4. Ch 4 The Sunday before Classes

Ch 4 The Sunday before Classes

More major changes because of Deb, my excellent Beta.

* * *

Sunday morning at breakfast, Scorpius passed out copies of the maps Albus made to the students of Slytherin, starting with the first years. When Scorpius handed a map to Bellatrix Hanley, the fifth year female prefect for Slytherin, she snapped at him, "You did not have permission to make or hand out these maps. Give them to me."

Scorpius held up the maps, and Albus summoned them. Bellatrix stormed over to Albus, and while she was advancing on Albus, Scorpius pulled out more maps and kept handing them out.

"You ASK before doing anything in the Slytherin dormitory," Bellatrix screamed, trying to snatch them away from him.

Albus smiled, but did not say anything, as the other MELLs students took the maps from Albus and began passing them down the table.

"ANSWER ME, YOU MISERABLE MUDBLOOD!" Bellatrix raged, getting in his face and glaring at him.

"You didn't ask a question, however if you have any complaints, please complain to Professor Ollivander," Albus quipped. "Complain to Professor McGonagall. Or better yet, if you can, make your own maps to pass out."

"You DO run Slytherin," Henry Edington jested. All of the MELL Slytherin students, and several others, laughed, as Bellatrix stormed away.

At the end of breakfast, Robert Rosier sat down next to Albus. "I've been appointed captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team, Albus," he noted. "I would like to find new members and start training as soon as we can. Could we hold tryouts this afternoon?"

Albus looked at the new first and second year students. "Are any of you good on a broom?"

Henry Edington promptly boasted, "I've played chaser in games in Switzerland, and played a similar position in America. I have been told I'm pretty good."

"I've played seeker, Albus," Adel Brandt piped in with, "I have been told I have a lot of potential. I know you are an excellent seeker, but I would like to learn."

"I've played a position comparable to your beater in some really rough games we play, and played beater in Swiss games as well," Harry Eseven bragged. "I have been told I have a lot of potential as well."

"I will let the older students know we are holding tryouts this afternoon," Robert confirmed with a nod, "but assume all of you will be meeting us right after lunch."

"Albus, I need to talk to you alone," Robert implored as Albus rose to leave with his friends, so he sat back down, nodding at them to go ahead. Once they were alone, Robert complained, "Look, I'm on the side of my dad when it comes to letting, letting, Oh, cram it. You are not Pure Blooded, and yet you and your brother are the best seekers Hogwarts has seen since your father. It would help with my father if you could find out if your allies are Mud … I mean, are they pure? Slytherin just feels dirty with all these … At least you are three-quarters pure, but some of these people are not even a little pure."

"If you want to win Quidditch games, pretend it doesn't matter," Albus suggested as he got up from the table. "If you want all the team to accept you as their leader, pretend it doesn't matter everywhere, not just on the Quidditch pitch. Cleo and I have to meet the Habsburgs in a few minutes, but you and I can talk after practice this evening."

"I would like that," Robert Rosier confirmed.

* * *

Albus and Cleopatra knocked on the door of Gabriel and Hermeli Habsburg's quarters precisely at 9:15 AM. Hermeli answered the door, and chuckled. "We were warned that often, when you asked for Albus, Albus and Cleopatra would appear."

Albus grinned, and did not apologize. Cleo beamed, acknowledging Hermeli's comment as if it was the biggest compliment. Cleo held onto Albus' hand as the two of them entered the Habsburgs' quarters. Hermeli waved the couple in, and invited them to sit on comfortable chairs. Albus noticed that what was probably a living room had been transformed into a modest sized meeting room.

Gabriel dived right in, asked Albus, "Do you have one of the student mobiles?"

"No." Albus admitted as he pulled his phone out and showed it to Gabriel, "They put the Portkey spells on my personal mobile. I purchased my own Magi Muggle Mobile with some of Cleo and my money."

"You should not have joint funds," Hermeli protested, shocked at the idea of two twelve year olds having joint accounts.

"We own a soap and perfume business together," Albus explained. "So, we do have some joint money." He and Cleo had been warned by the Gringotts goblins and Albus' parents not to talk about their joint account in Gringotts.

Gabriel told Albus, "You are not supposed to use mobiles like that, sending video of the meeting of the Slytherin students. It could get you into all sorts of trouble. Don't get me wrong. We are glad you did, since Tom Riddle Hanley should not have been in the dormitory in the first place. I'm not here to enforce Hogwarts rules. I'm just concerned about keeping you safe when you seem to ignore rules when it suits you."

"I really try to obey all the rules," Albus stressed, "when I can."

"But you do occasionally break them," Gabriel stated.

"Like using magic to save my life and the life of others, even though I am underage, absolutely," Albus argued. "What is the right thing to do is not always to follow the rules."

Neither Gabriel nor Hermeli could argue with Albus. From the time when Albus was three, when he had summoned wands and had saved the life of his family, to several other incidents, he had used his magic powers to save lives. Albus had violated the rules on under age magic for all the right reasons.

"I can make magical maps of Hogwarts for you, if you want," Albus told the Habsburgs. "I can make maps of other places if you want me to."

"Professor McGonagall has given me a copy of a map of the castle that your father made. I will ask you, if I need a special map, Albus," Gabriel answered. "Thank you."

Promptly at 9:30 AM the rest of the students raised with Elves, along with Galadriel and Luthien Lothlorien and Thorin Oakenwand, appeared at the Habsburgs door.

When they were all settled in the Habsburgs living room, Gabriel asked, "Do all of you have a Magi Muggle Mobile?" Everybody, including the two Elves and the goblin, indicated that they had the mobiles, and that the mobiles were set up as Portkeys.

"We want all of you to get to know the Hogwarts elf or elves taking care of your dormitory," Hermeli announced. "If you are captured or need help urgently you should be able to call for your dormitory Elf as well as the Elf you have been raised with."

There was more discussion on security, and after about half an hour everybody except the students in Slytherin were dismissed. When only the Slytherin students were left, Hermeli asked, "Are there any Slytherin students we should be watching closely, and are there any who could be allies in changing the nature of the house?"

Albus told the Habsburgs, "We really should have Cleo and Rose rejoin us. They are in the same year with us. Cleo learned something about many of the Slytherins when she examined them to make the special individual shampoo, soap, and perfumes Cleo and I make. I am sure they have insights that will be helpful."

"Alright, call them back," Hermeli agreed.

Albus send a quick text message to Cleo and Rose. He also called Cleo mind to mind so she would look at the text message as soon as it came through. A very short time later Cleo and Rose were knocking on the door, and were let in.

Albus looked over and asked Scorpius, "Could you read off the students one by one, please."

Scorpius started, "Tom Riddle Hanley. He is an eighth year, but I think he wants to keep running the Slytherin dorm and students. His sister Bellatrix is a prefect. He is worse than she is, but she isn't good.

"Tom Higgy is the boy seventh year prefect. We are not getting any help from any of the prefects. Bill Bletchley and Marshall Lestrange are firmly on the side of the Pure Blood faction. Paul Pettigrew and Caradoc Dearborn might be able to be persuaded, but they are seventh year students, and I don't think there is any way we can change them before they graduate.

"Archana Lucy is the girl seventh year prefect. I don't expect any help from her or Delilah Rosier. I do not know anything about Tomasina Nott, although some of the Notts are on our side. "

Albus looked at his list of students, declaring, "Orion Cowley is the boy sixth year prefect. I cannot see getting any help from him or from Tom Gudgeon Jr, Burley Bulstrode, or Felix Yaxley. None of them are the smartest student. I'm talking to Robert Rosier, Rosie as we call him. Rosie is the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team this year, and he seems willing to work with students who are not pure blooded. I think we may have an opening with him.

Rickie Nott is the only other sixth year female. I'm not sure how she is related to Tomasina, although I think they are cousins."

Scorpius and Albus went through all of the Slytherin students, trying to identify ones that their group of MELLs could try and befriend.

Cleo volunteered, "I'm not sure all of the Slytherin girls are as firmly on the side of the Pure Blooded people as the boys are. Some of the boys are cruel, and I get the feeling that some of the girls are forced to marry boys they don't like. Witches are as powerful as wizards, and many of the Wizarding communities give boys and girls equal rights. I'm sure that some of the Slytherin families are very patriarchal, and not very nice."

The meeting broke up just before lunch, with everyone thinking there was much more to talk about, especially after the students had a chance to know their classmates. It was agreed that they should meet again in two or three weeks.

* * *

That afternoon Albus met with Robert Rosier, and the two of them walked to the Hogwarts Quidditch field for tryouts. Robert told Albus, "I have some additional potential members. I am going to have everyone introduce themselves before the tryouts, and tell a little something about themselves."

When they arrived at the field several people where already there. When Robert thought everyone was there, he started by introducing himself. "I am Robert Rosier, a sixth year student, and the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team. Most people call me Rosie. I am pure blooded, but all I am going to care about is how good a player you are. I play chaser. I would like everyone to introduce themselves, tell all of us what position you play, and if you were on the team last year."

An older girl started. "I'm Rickie Nott, and I'm in sixth year. I've played beater in a few casual games, to the horror of my mother, who says girls should not play Quidditch. I'm sick and tired of the male chauvinism of the Slytherin boys, and I want to show people I can play with the best of them."

Albus looked at Rickie. He had never seen her in anything but a dress, and from her clothes alone he could believe her mother wanted to force a certain view of femininity on her. She was dressed in a blouse and three quarter length trousers that advertised that she was female, with shoes that were utterly impractical for any athlete game except for one played in the air on a broom. She was as average as you could be, neither skinny or curvy, with long hair that was a totally forgettable brown. For the first time the hair was piled on top of her head instead of unbound.

"I'm Giles Bletchley Jr., fifth year, and this will be my fourth year as keeper."

Giles was reasonably tall and lanky, a good shape for a keeper. Albus could not remember ever talking to him about anything but Quidditch.

"Victor Valsey, fifth year prefect, beater."

Victor was a beefy guy, and not nice. Beaters were supposed to be aggressive, but only on the playing field. Albus had avoided him last year, feeling that he would be just as happy hurting someone off the playing field.

"I'm Terrance Teddy. I'm in fourth year, and I'm a reserve chaser. I've played mostly in practice, and that's OK."

Terrance was nice, one of the students Albus thought they were going to have to get to know better.

"I'm Abraham Stanford, third year. I'm also a reserve chaser. I would like to stay on the team, even if I'm not very good. I will do my best to help Slytherin win."

Abraham was the son of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, a typical thirteenth year old in looks, and a real nice young man.

"I'm Patsy Hepplewhite, third year. I started last year as a fair beater, but I've grown and practiced a lot over the last year, and I look forward to showing how much better I am this year."

Patsy had started last year as a small twelve-year-old just starting puberty. He had grown over the last year. That plus exercise and this year he looked like a beater. Albus knew he was a good beater, but not a mean person.

"I'm Albus Potter, second year, seeker."

Albus knew he was still a little boy, puberty still on the horizon

"I'm Henry Edington, second year, chaser."

Henry looked vaguely Oriental. His father was mostly Northern European, but his mother was Korean, and he looked like a mix of both parents. Other than that, he was a typical twelve-year old boy.

"I'm Harry Eseven, second year, beater."

Harry looked very Native American in color, with the slightly heavy body type typical of people who lived around the Artic.

"I'm Adel Brant, second year, seeker. I'm not trying to take over your job, Albus, but if you are hurt or cannot play is doesn't hurt to have a spare."

Adel was small but not tiny, and looked typically Northern European, with light brown hair and blue eyes.

"I'm Helena Rosier, second year, chaser."

Helena was big for her age, with long blond hair and blue eyes. She also wore a dress all last year, and it looked like she and Rickie purchased their clothes at the same store. Her blouse and trousers were similar to the ones Rickie wore. She was just starting to develop a female shape. She had been unpleasant to Albus all last year, and Albus had avoided her. Since she seemed uninterested in custom shampoo or soap, Cleo had not had a chance to examine her either, although they had attended the same classes.

Robert had everyone fly, practicing the positions they were trying out for. At the end of practice he announced, "I would like all of you to stay on the team and practice. I'm not ready to announce who will be on the first squad. I'm just thrilled that we have backup for all but the keeper position."

* * *

Albus looked at Rosier's Quidditch practice schedule. It conflicted with the band practice, and with some of the revision schedules that Rose was trying to schedule. He secretly hoped that Adel was a good enough seeker. He would give up Quidditch promptly if he could.

Albus met up with Scorpius for dinner. After dinner they met Cleo and Rose, and went over the class schedules and talked about schoolwork. There was a study room on the first floor, close to the Great Hall, that held portraits of most of the people who had been killed fighting Tom Riddle. It was a comfortable room for groups of students who were from different houses to meet. Albus, Rose, Cleo and Scorpius talked until it was time to go back to their houses.

* * *

Once Albus and Scorpius were back in the Slytherin Dorm, Rosie approached them. "I know a good place to talk privately," Rosie told Albus.

"Do you mind if Scorpius comes along," Albus inquired.

"How do you feel about Blood Purity?" Rosie asked Scorpius as the younger boys got up and followed him out of the Common room.

"Bunch of dragon dung," Scorpius scoffed. "I don't think anyone is as totally pure as they think. We have a couple of Muggle ancestors six to ten generations back. Great-grandmother Black is ashamed to talk about it. Rose's mum isn't the only Muggle born Magi with more talent than most of the Pure Blooded snobs in Slytherin."

"We should be able to talk privately in this room," Rosie told Albus and Scorpius, as he led them into a private room and closed the door. He locked the door, and did a privacy spell. Albus followed with two more privacy spells, advance sixth or seventh year spells. Rosie looked at Albus with wonder and a little awe. "How many six or seventh year spells do you know, Albus."

"Most of them," Albus admitted. "I'm a freak. When it comes to raw magical power, I'm off the charts, and I'm not Pure Blooded by any means. Even the Weasley blood, although it is pure enough to be considered Pure Blood, has Muggle ancestry. Depending on who you talk to, one eight to one thirty-second Muggle doesn't keep you from being considered Pure. Since the scientists in Switzerland have started analyzing DNA, since they found the magical Alpha and Omega DNA that seems not to exist in our normal three-dimensional world, they have tried to trace magical DNA. Much of it is inherited in the normal way, which is why magical parents usually have magical children. Magical genes are very dominate. Often they can just magically appear. That is what seems to have happened at one time, since Magi appeared all over the world, in all the races and locations, at about the same time.

"Aunt Hermione Granger-Weasley had an uncle she did not know about who was magical, but she and her mother have traced her ancestry back five hundred years without a trace of anyone else being magical. At the same time, we've tested DNA from many Muggles, and it is not typical to find someone who doesn't have at least a little magic in their blood."

"Do you know anyone with absolutely no magical DNA?" a curious Rosie wondered.

"Uncle Dudley's father, the man my dead grandmother's sister married," Albus replied. "We guess ten to twenty percent of the people on earth do not have any magical DNA."

"Cleo is the witch who almost levitated the whole Hogwarts Castle last year," Rosie observed. "How pure is she?"

"Not," Albus announced. "She has more magical genes than anyone we've ever tested, but her ancestry isn't pure magically or Mugglly."

"I can't tell my father any of this," Rosie signed. "I have a great-great-grandfather who really runs the family. I am terrified of him, because he can be so sadistic. Great-grandfather isn't so bad, but grandfather is just as cruel. The only reasons they were not Death Eaters was their age, I guess. I don't want to be like them, but I think people who oppose them have a way of dying early."

"Just concentrate on your studies and Quidditch," Albus advised. "I will understand if you have to be on the side of Hanley and his henchmen right now."

"Thank you, Albus," Rosie replied.


	5. Ch 5 2 Bishops, a Rabbi, Friar Tuck

APEC Albus Potter, Classmates and Elves.

APEC Ch 5 Two Bishops, a Rabbi, Buddhists, and Friar Tuck

Monday, just before dinner, Al led Scorpius, Rose and Cleo over to the Hufflepuff table to talk to the Fat Friar.

"Father Mister Fat Friar, Sir," Albus started, not knowing how to address the ghost. "We would like to talk to you."

"Ah, Albus Potter and friends," the Fat Friar noted. "Come over to the Hufflepuff table after dinner, and I would be delighted to spend some time with you."

When Al and Scorpius sat down for dinner, Rosie Rosier reminded Albus, "We have Quidditch practice right after dinner."

Al replied, "I have a brief meeting right after dinner. I will be there as soon as I can be."

Rosie was not happy. "How dedicated are you to the team, Albus Potter?" he demanded. "Don't schedule anything that interferes with Quidditch."

Albus reminded him, "There is a lot going on in my life other than Quidditch, Rosie. I am going to do my best, but I will almost certainly not be at every practice. At least you have a backup seeker in Adel Brandt."

"She may be our primary seeker if you are not careful," Rosie snapped.

Al pondered replying, but decided that silence was the best reply as Rosie stormed away. Al really didn't care if he was replaced as seeker. He did want to develop Rosie as a friend, however. Life had a way of getting complicated. Al could see Rosie complaining to other members of the team during dinner, probably about him as he would gesture to Al throughout the meal.

After dinner, the four friends made their way over to the Hufflepuff table. Joshua Firewalker met them, along with Cal Glenbell, who was a member of the little band that Al and Cleo were also members of.

Joshua was sitting next to a girl, and he jumped up when he noticed Al, pulling the girl up with him. "Albus, do you know Chrysanthemum Sprout? She's one of Professor Sprout's children, and a really nice person."

Chrysanthemum was a short and kind of round little girl. "Most people call me Flower," she stated, blushing at Joshua's statement. "There are way too many of us Sprouts to call me Sprout, and there are a couple of Chris's in Hufflepuff, so that doesn't work."

Al looked at Cal, Joshua, and 'Flower', and then at the Fat Friar. Not far away from the Friar was also a group of ghost nuns. When she noticed Al looking confused at the nuns, Flower explained, "The nuns are also Hufflepuff ghosts."

"What should I call you?" Al asked the Fat Friar.

"Friar Tuck," the ghost replied.

"The Robin Hood Friar Tuck?" Rose squealed in excitement.

The ghost bowed, "The same."

Al could see the start of a very long and off topic conversation, if Rose went into the whole 'Robin Hood' thing, so he jumped right in with, "I don't know if you are aware, but we are going to be holding religious services Saturday nights, starting this Saturday, Friar Tuck. Since you are a Friar, and maybe a priest, we thought you might like to help." Looking over at the nuns, he added, "We would like to invite the nuns as well."

"Do you know why people decide to become ghosts?" Friar Tuck inquired, obviously uncomfortable.

Al shook his head no. He thought it was because they were afraid to die, but he wasn't sure how to politely say it. He looked at Rose, who was a font of information, and was seldom reluctant to share it.

"I read that Magi can decide to become a ghost instead of going on," Rose volunteered. "I know sometimes bad people become ghosts because they are afraid of judgement, but I do not think that is always the case. Why did you become a ghost, Friar Tuck?"

"That is almost always the case," Friar Tuck admitted. "I'm not proud of everything I did in my life. Some stories make us out to be more heroic than we actually were."

"The nun's too?" a wide-eyed Rose asked.

If a ghost could blush, Friar Tuck would have. "Mother Ursula was my mistress, and the nuns kept the Merry Men merry," he admitted. "We were a rather randy bunch, and did not want to face judgement."

"I'm no expert in this religious stuff," Cleopatra declared, "but I've been to just enough services, and Albus has explained things. Can't you ask for forgiveness? Can't you confess your sins?"

"Once we are dead?" Friar Tuck pondered. "I don't think it works that way."

"But you don't know!" Cleo exclaimed. "You ought to try! Come to services with us."

"Yes, ma'am," Friar Tuck agreed with a grin. Cleopatra was a hard person to resist, even if you were a ghost. Friar Tuck and the nuns agreed to attend the religious services Saturday night.

Albus knew that Cleo had been given, by the Elves, a magical CD player that did not need electricity to play CDs. There was nothing magnetic or electrical on a CD, just little pits that the goblins had somehow found a way to read, and Cleo had a large collection of movies, almost all of which had "Happily Ever After" types of endings. Cleo was a firm belief that almost everyone could be saved, could have a Happily Ever After ending. Al was just astonished to see Cleo work her magic on the ghosts.

The only new teacher this year was Arwen Wong. She was teaching the upper grades Potions classes. Her husband Elessar had taken over from Dragon Chen the end of last year, teaching the lower grade Potions classes. Albus and his friends really didn't have any new teachers this year.

Rose announced early on that, "The secret to good marks is getting the best possible marks on the first assignments." Scorpius seemed to agree with Rose, and Al and Cleo went along with her when they could. Albus often had to demonstrate spells to Cleo, and she had to read his mind and see him do the spells before she could do them in her own unique way.

Albus did attend most of Rosie's frequent Quidditch practices, but not all of them. He occasionally arrived late or left early, much to Rosie's frustration.

The first Saturday morning after classes started, Ashley Ollivander sat next to Albus and Scorpius. She made small talk with them until breakfast was almost finished, and then told them, "My Aunt Olivia and I would like to talk to you and Cleopatra, Albus. You have the most unique wands, and as wand makers we would like to examine them."

Scorpius told Albus, "Rose and I were going to go to the library. You will be able to find us there." Ashley accompanied Albus and Scorpius to the Gryffindor table, and then Rose and Scorpius headed off to the library. Al and Cleo followed Ashley to her aunt's quarters.

Olivia's quarters were similar to the quarters of most of the single staff. One unusual feature were numerous drawings of wands, and charts of wand woods and magical wand cores. It was easy to tell that Professor Ollivander was fascinated with wands and wand lore.

"Welcome, Miss Ollivander, Mister Potter, Miss Smith," Professor Ollivander greeted the students. "Please sit down." She led them to kitchen style table with four chairs, before continuing, "The Ollivander family has been wand makers for as long as we have recorded history. Mr. Potter's wand and Miss Smith's wand are known wands. Many wands are buried with their owners, but especially powerful or unusual wands are passed down through the ages. Your two wands are some of the oldest wands. Most wands do not have a gender, but Miss Smith, I know your wand is feminine. I examined it often enough when it was at my brother's shop. May I see it, please?"

Cleo took out her wand, and laid it on the table. As she was putting the 0wand down, she thought of the charms that she and Albus had put on their wands last year to make it difficult or impossible for anyone else to use them. Cleo didn't know how she did it, but she reinforced the 'do not use' charms.

Olivia examined Cleo's wand with her wand. "This wand has always been a difficult wand to use, but I think you put spells on it to make it even harder for anyone else to use," Olivia guessed.

Cleo and Albus both grinned, nodding 'yes' to her.

"Can anyone else use this wand?" Olivia asked.

"Albus can," Cleo eagerly volunteered.

"But it is a feminine wand!" Olivia exclaimed, surprised at this revelation.

Cleopatra grin was if anything even wider, and she looked over at Albus and sighed, causing him to blush.

Albus tried to get his blush under control as he pondered how to explain. "If it was anyone but Cleopatra, using it would be like, maybe, snogging your sister or a professor or something like that. Something vaguely sexual you shouldn't do. It is just with Cleo it doesn't matter."

Olivia looked at the Cleopatra and Albus, examined the wand again, and looked back at the two students again. They could tell she was trying to formulate more questions.

"I would like to see your wand as well, Mister Potter," Olivia pled.

Albus put his wand on the table, keeping his right hand close to the wand. Olivia pulled out her wand and carefully examined his wand with her wand by waving it over it a few times. She wanted to touch the Elder Wand with her wand, but something prevented her from actually touching it. She then observed, "This wand has even more powerful spells to keep anyone else from using it. Can Miss Smith use it?"

Cleo looked embarrassed, replying, "Yes, but I know it is a male wand. It is like it wants to do things that we not old enough for. No, that's not exactly it, but I don't know how to say it."

Olivia asked more questions about using the wands, but the more she asked the less Albus and Cleo wanted to answer. Finally Albus told Olivia, "Professor Ollivander, I think I need to talk to my father and some people I know in Switzerland before we say anything else." The teacher sighed and nodded, dismissing the two with her thanks.

As soon as Albus and Cleo were on their own, Albus called his father. The mobile rang several times, and then went to voice mail. Albus grinned. "I think Mum and Dad are busy," he joked.

Cleo was just enough in Albus' mind, and knew him well enough, to know what he was thinking. After the somewhat suggestive conversations about male and female wands, she knew Albus was thinking of his parents making love. The thought was delightfully embarrassing. She and Albus had years to wait before they could share their bodies. Boggarts.

As soon as Albus and Cleo entered the library, his mobile rang. Madam Pinch, the head librarian, scowled and pointed to the door. Albus quickly went out of the library, Cleo as his side.

"You called?" Harry asked.

"We, Cleo and I, met with Professor Ollivander and her niece, Ashley, this morning. They asked us too many questions about our wands, and she examined them with her wand. We didn't let her touch or use them. I don't know what she wants, but I don't feel like I want to have her keep asking me about the wands."

Harry paused before answering. "I will go to Ollivander's, at the wand shop, and talk to her brother and sister-in-law, Albus, and then maybe talk to her. Do not say anything to anyone else."

Cleo jumped in with, "Could you take Mum Potter along? Professor Ollivander was very interested in why my wand is a female wand and Al's is male, and I feel a little, like she wants to get us naked. Not our clothes, but something else. Like peering into our souls, or understanding how we and our wands work. Not like with Professor Chen last year trying to get into my mind, exactly, but … I cannot explain it. I just don't like it."

"I will do that, Cleo," Harry answered. "I will take Mum Potter along." Harry was sure he needed to know more about Olivia Ollivander. Harry was also a little shocked at how natural it felt to refer to Ginny as 'Mum Potter' when he was talking to Cleo.

Saturday morning there was an announcement about religious services that evening. By dinner there was enough interest that Professor McGonagall announced, "The group interested in religion is going to meet in the Great Hall at 8:00 PM. We have no idea how many people are going to be meeting, and until we know we do not know what type of room or rooms to reserve for you."

At 7:45 PM Albus, Cleo, Rose and Scorpius were waiting in the Great Hall when Professor McGonagall led in eight people, four men and four women. The hall was beginning to fill up with students, and to the surprise of Albus, Elves. Professor McGonagall announced, "You must all stand up while I rearrange the Great Hall." When everyone was standing, she waved her wand a few times. The tables all disappeared, and there were chairs arranged in a half circle, with eight chairs on a platform just two-steps higher in the center of the circle.

The four friends sat down in the front row, and most of the MELL students sat close to them.

Shortly after eight, a man stood up, looked around, and started. "Thank you, Professor McGonagall, for inviting us to Hogwarts, and thank you, Albus Potter, for suggesting we come. I want to introduce the people up here. We are then going to give you a little history of religion and magic.

"My name is Apollo Scherica, and I am a bishop in the Church of the Magi. This is my wife, Nausicaa. She is a direct heir of the prophetesses of Delphi."

Nausicaa stood up when she was introduced, and then sat down. Both of the Scherica's were dressed in Muggle clothes, he in a suit with a clerical collar, she in flowing robes that looked like the type of robe a modern prophetess would wear.

He motioned to the next couple to stand. They were dressed in casual clothes, jeans and colorful shirts, wore what Americans would call cowboy boots, and wore beads. Both wore their hair long and braided. "Jacob Qaletaga is a bishop in the Magi Christian Church, but also a shaman in the Native American religions. His wife Mary Muna is a Native American prophetess."

A Chinese couple in monk's robes stood up. "Tom and Julia Tam are Buddhists monks. Their children were raised with the Chinese students attending Hogwarts, Harry and Ginny Wang, John and Marcy Chang."

Apollo sat down, and the last man stood up. He and his wife were also dressed in Muggle clothes, he in a suit, she in a very elegant dress. He started to speak.

"My name is Rabbi David Sloan, and I am here with my wife Sarah. We are, as you probably guessed, Jewish. This hat I am wearing, called a yarmulke, is one indication that I am Jewish. Most Jewish men wear this or some other hair covering at services, and some wear it all Sabbath or even all the time we are out in public. I am going to start to tell a little of the history of Magi and religion.

"As far as we can tell, the first Magi appeared on earth about five thousand years ago. At least that is as far back as we can trace wands, and trace our origins. Wand magic seems to have appeared at about the same time all over the world. I only know well what I have studied, the writings of the Jewish people. We Magi study the Torah, what Christians call the Old Testament, but also more modern writings of the Rabbis. We have an additional book that covers the history of the Exodus from Egypt until the Jews returned from Exile, from the point of view of the Magi, and several other writings covering the centuries since then. There are stories about the Jews before the Exodus, and many writings after the last books of the Torah, but none are accepted by all Jewish Magi.

"Magi believe in an afterlife. Unlike most people, we have what we consider proof, in rare but persistent communication between the dead and the living. This type of communication is dangerous if you seek it out to hold on to what is lost. That is the lesson of the Resurrection Stone. Your writings suggest that the stone is only a few hundred years old, but something like it is in our oldest writings. We think the Peverell brothers stole the Hallows. The Resurrection Stone can be used for good, according to the oldest stories, only if you are trying to help someone else, not trying to get in touch with your loved ones for your own good. Jews have not always believed in life after death, and many do not believe now, but Jewish Magi almost always believe.

"I see we have a number of ghosts here. Jewish Magi believe that ghosts are Magi who do not want to face judgement. I am eager to talk to the ghosts here, but do not believe I as a Jew have any salvation to offer you. I am open to other arguments."

Rabbi Sloan looked at Jacob Qaletaga, who he obviously knew well. Jacob stood up and volunteered, "If you are looking for easy answers, we don't have any. What we as Magi know and do is in conflict with everything we know in science and in our religions. Jews have a saying, 'two Jews, three opinions.' Two Magi of different religions, four opinions at least."

Everybody on stage laughed.

Apollo stood up as the other two sat down, and continued, "The Magi were magical people who came out of the East to give Jesus gifts. They did not stay to know him, however. Neither Jewish Magi nor the Magi who became Christian in the first century after Christ were first generation disciples, and there were no Magi at the Crucifixion. I know there were Elves at both Jesus's birth and death, and maybe witnessed him risen. Add in the Elves and their history, and instead of four opinions you have six or eight at least. What we don't know is far greater than what we do know.

"We practice our religions not because we have all the answers. We practice our religions because we all believe we need to be good, we need a moral guide, and our religions give us a moral guide.

"Every other week we are going to have a Christian religious service. We will be offering other services, plus plenty of time to discuss, the other weeks. These sessions are voluntary, and all are welcome. Do you have any questions?"

Hands were raised all over the room, and eventually every one of the eight adults was talking to a small group of students. The meeting did not break up until quarter to ten, in time to allow the students to get to their dormitories before curfew.

It was Tuesday morning before Harry could arrange to visit Ollivander's with Ginny. They arrived mid-morning, and waited until the only customer left the shop. Ollie and his wife Olive led the Potters to a room just off the store, where they could hear if someone came in the store. Ollie's grandfather Garrick was there, frail of body but apparently very sound of mind.

"Ah Mr. Potter, holly wood and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple and Mrs. Potter, willow and dragon heartstring, ten and a half inches, nice for charm work. It is almost identical to the wand your mother-in-law Lily Evans purchased," the wizened Patriarch said in his usual greeting. "Ginny, your brother has supplied us with a nice selection of dragon heartstring, including the one in your wand. How are your wands treating you?"

Harry grinned as he smiled at the elderly man. "Very well, thank you, Mr. Ollivander, but we are here to ask some questions about your family's interest in our children's wands."

Ginny looked at her wand. She had no idea that her brother Charlie had supplied the dragon heartstring for her wand, or that it was similar to her deceased mother-in-law Lily's wand. Ginny had always thought of Lily as Harry's mother, but never as her mother-in-law, although Lily was.

Harry looked at Ollie and started out by asking, "I understand that Olivia is your sister."

Ollie joked, "Yes, and I had to pick a wife named Olive." Everyone laughed.

Olive noted, "It was quite a shock to meet his sister, and realize how close our names were."

Harry then explained the reason why he was there. "Olivia is asking some questions about wands that are making my son Albus and his friend Cleopatra uncomfortable. Why is she so interested in those wands?"

"Because they are old wands," Garrick guessed. "Old wands are rare and valuable."

"Why?" asked Harry.

"Because they are the best wand-making wands," Garrick explained, "Olivia has always been fascinated by wand making, and trained to be one."

"Why is she teaching, instead of wand making?" Harry asked.

"Because she is not married," Garrick explained. "It takes a husband and wife working together for the charms to make a wand work."

"Do you have a wife hidden around here?" Ginny asked, looking around.

"When my wife died I did everything I needed to make wands up to the charms," Garrick explained. "I procured the wands without the cores. Some we buy from the two companies you own, the one in England that the Parkinson family works at, and the one in Eastern Europe. Other wands are purchased from North or South America. We don't use Asian or African wand wood, but that is just a personal preference. Then we procure the magical cores. Thank you for giving me the few Phoenix feathers that your Phoenix has dropped. They are rare, and I appreciate being able to buy them. We do the magic to put the magical core inside the wand. When my wife died, a couple of relatives who are also wand-makers came over to do the charms. Wand makers all belong to a wand-makers guild. Wand-makers help each other out that way. Now of course Ollie and Olivia do all the charms."

"Could you work with a widow wand maker?" Harry asked.

"If we fell in love and married, yes," Garrick replied.

Ginny pondered the situation. "Why is marriage so important?" she asked.

"It is not just marriage," Olive struggled to explain. "There is something feminine about the creative process in making a wand. I found it much easier to do the spells once I was pregnant. Olivia is not fond of the idea of having to be pregnant and nurse children and have her body change. She did have two boys who were interested in her when she was an apprentice wand maker. One was over half Muggle, so she had a hard time even talking to him. The other, when he found out how prejudice she was towards anyone not a pure-blooded Magi, decided he wanted nothing to do with her."

"Your body does change once you have children," Ginny reflected. "I was a skinny, fit little thing when I played for the Harpies. Now I'm a fat old mother."

"You are not old!" Harry exclaimed. "You are a little heavy, but you are not fat."

"I'm almost twice my Harpies weight, Harry," Ginny grumbled.

"What is so special about Cleo's wand?" Harry asked, trying to get the conversation back on track. Talking to Ginny about her weight was a conversation he wanted to avoid at all costs.

"We think it is a first generation wand," Olive replied. "We can trace the ancestry of every wand all the way back to the first two wands, what we are now almost sure is Albus' Elder Wand, and the wand we think belongs to the Pirate Witch Queen of the Caribbean. We think Cleo's wand was made by the female wand. Wands have to be made by two wands, so we don't know how the first two wands were made, and some of the first generation wands seem to have been made by one of the first wands and another wand or something."

Harry thought of the wands that Galadriel and Thorin used, and asked, "Could the magic have come from the Elves?"

"That would imply that Elves were not created by Magi, but that Muggles were turned into Magi by Elves," Garrick growled. "I don't like that idea at all."

Harry thought that it was looking more and more like magic came from the Elves, but he didn't say anything.

"Is the Elder Wand's history as bloody as I think it is?" Harry asked.

"Pretty much," Garrick agreed.

"What can you tell us about Cleo's wand," Ginny wanted to know.

"It is tied into reproduction," Olive replied. "Most of the females who owned that wand had very large families. They also seemed to be able to help women who were barren have children. Some of the women were match-makers, and notably successful match-makers. The biggest problem seems to be too much fertility, both of the witch who owned the wand and people around her."

"How many children?" Ginny questioned, thinking of Cleo's, she thought premature, desire to have children.

"Many with over a dozen," Olive confessed. "One witch had her first child when she was sixteen and had her last child at fifty-nine. She ended up bearing forty children, something I find scary and not really a good thing at all."

Ginny thought about the castle in Switzerland. When she first found out that she and Harry were the Regents, she could not imagine anyone having a family big enough to fill that castle, and she knew she did not begin to have the energy to redo the gloomy interior. Now Cleo and Rose were making the castle much more inviting. Cleo and her Albus filling that castle with children was a scary thought.

"I think we have more questions than answers," Harry concluded with a sigh, as a little bell rang, and Olive and Ollie rushed out to tend to customers.

The following Saturday the two Christian bishops said Mass for the Christian students, taking time to explain some of what they were doing. They promised to explain more with each of the every-other week service. Meanwhile rooms had been set aside for the Rabbi and the Monks to talk to some of the students who did not want to attend the Christian service. Everyone met up in the Great Hall at 9:30 PM before they dismissed at 9:45 PM.

Most Sunday evenings the MELL students, Magi and Elves, met after dinner. At the last meeting in September Thorin the goblin and the Elves Galadriel and Luthien motioned Albus to come over and meet with them. Cleopatra stayed with Albus. Galadriel asked Albus, "Has Ashley Ollivander been asking you about your wand?"

Albus replied, "Not only has she talked to us, but we agreed to talk to her Aunt Ollivander. I don't like how interested either of them are in our wands."

"Ashley is way too interested in our wands as well," Galadriel complained. "None of us want to show either her or Professor Ollivander our wands."

"I talked to my father about the Ollivander's interest in the wands, and he was going to see the professor's brother, Ashley's parents, to talk about them. I have not talked to dad since then," Albus elaborated. "Maybe I should." Albus took out his Magi/Muggle mobile and placed the call.

"Albus, how are you?" Harry asked when he answered his mobile.

"I'm fine, Dad," Albus responded. "I'm talking to Thorin, Galadriel and Luthien. Ashley Ollivander and her Aunt are interested in their wands as well. Thorin, Galadriel and Luthien don't want to show the Ollivanders their wands."

"I wouldn't," Harry advised. "I would keep anything you learn about their wands secret for now. That goes for all of your wands."

"We can tell Ashley and Professor Ollivander that you do not want us to show them the wands," Albus agreed. "Thank you, Dad." Turning to his friends, he confirmed, "Dad agrees. We should not let anyone examine our wands."

The first Quidditch game of the season was traditionally between Gryffindor and Slytherin. The fall of two thousand-eighteen, it was held Saturday October sixth. Before the match, the teams dressed in the new protective clothing that all student Quidditch players had to wear, including helmets that would protect against head injuries like the ones that had so severely hurt Ginny Potter.

Cleo noticed a couple coming in, a woman just young enough to be mother to some of the children leading a wizard about her age. The wizard seemed physically fit, but somewhat confused.

Rose explained, "That couple is Mr. and Mrs. Lionheart. Mrs. Lionheart works with Aunt Ginny writing the Quidditch column, and she was on the Harpies with Aunt Ginny. Mr. Lionheart was called 'Wild Bill' because he was such a daring seeker. He had one too many serious head injuries, however. Their two oldest children, Erica and Bill Junior, are students here. Bill and Erica fly with James and Lily when they can."

To the shock of everyone, Adel Brandt played seeker for most of the game, while Albus watched and coached from the side. When the game was into its third hour a Bludger hit Adel in the head, or almost hit her, the magic on the helmet protecting her. The same magic did force Adel down to touch the ground, and Albus was sent in for less than an hour before Adel was sent back in. The game was a very long one, six hours, and a very high scoring one as well. Slytherin was ahead four hundred and ten to three hundred and sixty when James caught the snitch.


	6. Ch 6 Teddy Undercover, the Basilisk in

Ch 6 Teddy Undercover, the Basilisk in the Forest

I again want to thank my beta Deb for some excellent work on this chapter. We would both appreciate reviews.

* * *

Al VanLente asked to meet with Harry and Ginny in the drawing room at Grimmauld Place, and asked if he could bring several guests along. The group met shortly after lunch Tuesday October ninth. Albert VanLente sat on the loveseat next to his wife Caroline. Across from him sat his son Dan and Dan's wife Willimena. Opposite Harry and Ginny were the head Elves from Switzerland, John and Mary Rivendell.

"We are here to let you know that Theodore Lupin is going to be going undercover," Al explained to Harry and Ginny. "He has a gift for both map making and concealment, and if he can make maps of the island of the Pirate Witch Queen of the Caribbean it will be the biggest advance we have ever had in combating her.

"I'm going to be brutally blunt with you. Ted has two choices when he lives on that island. One is to insist on living a moral life, and if he does that he will be killed very quickly. The other is to blend in, and if he does that he will probably father children as a result of orgies and/or having sex and maybe living with witches on the island. We need to keep his name on your Tapestry, plus on a master Tapestry we have in Switzerland, without revealing anything else. It will show if he is dead, but will not show if he is in danger or anything else about him."

"That's horrible!" Ginny exclaimed, grabbing Harry's hand.

Al leaned forward in his seat, clasping his hands, his eyes serious as his voice. "She sacrifices a new person almost every day, and occasionally sacrifices whole families, cutting out beating hearts with a glass knife that has been used in human sacrifices hundreds of years before," Al explained. "She is a terrible person, from a long line of terrible people. Parts of the Caribbean are considered evil and haunted because they are, because of her. The hardest job I have is sending undercover agents to that island."

"As long as Teddy is trained and agrees, do what you have to do," Harry agreed with a heavy heart. As head Auror in Great Britain, he had not lost an Auror since they destroyed the Lestrange hideout years ago. He remembered Philip Fletcher who died in the raid. His twin sister Philomena Fletcher Brown still worked for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, although not as an Auror, and she had married and moved on with her life. Harry knew that their mother had never really recovered, however, wasting her life away in grief. As a supervisor in the International Aurors, Harry did have the terrible task of telling parents or a spouse when an Auror had been killed or badly injured. Harry dreaded the thought that he would have to deal with Teddy being killed or badly injured.

Ginny was almost in tears. "I nursed him the first three months after the battle," she told the group. "His stocking is on OUR mantle Christmas morning. I know he is not our child, but he … he … he IS OUR child."

Carolina VanLente leaned forward and put her hand on Ginny's. "I go with Albert when he has to call on parents or a spouse. I think that is the hardest part of our job. We have cried so many tears over the years. I think we are doing a lot of good, but this job is just so hard, so emotionally draining at times."

"I always prided myself on being tough," Ginny mused. "It is one thing to be tough about yourself, but it is another thing to be tough when it is your children. James still has the scars from Professor Chen's attack, at least some of the smaller scars. Albus has had people attacking him for years. Lily is just reckless and careless, but I cannot count how many times I have had her at the healers. Carolina, how do you handle it?"

"Our two girls are not involved in law enforcement, which helps," Carolina replied. "I'm proud of Dan and Willie, but I worry about them. Both of their children are in law enforcement, but not as Aurors, so I'm not as worried about them or the great-grandchildren. That helps too."

* * *

Friday evening October twelfth Albus sat in the study room next to the Great Hall. It was more comfortable than the library because you could sit and talk with each other. Each of the sitting areas were furnished with privacy spells, allowing you to talk and still maintain some privacy. Cleo was with him, their homework on the table in front of them. Scorpius and Rose were in the library doing a bit of research on a paper that was due next week.

"Firenze sent me a note," Albus told Cleo. He paused and waited until she was finished writing her thought before he continued. "They want us to meet with them tomorrow. I sent a note to Professor McGonagall letting her know that we were going, and that we would meet with Firenze and not go alone."

Cleo looked over at the Elves guarding them. "Are Dis and Frerin coming with us," Cleo asked.

"Only as far as the edge of the forest," Albus shook his head as explained. "Once we are with Firenze they will need to stay behind and wait for us. If we call for them they can come, but the centaurs want us alone."

"Is Rosier still giving you a hard time about missing practices," Cleo asked, remembering the looks that the Team captain had been giving him a few nights ago.

"He is always bitching at me for missing practices," Albus pointed out. "Slytherin does not have another game until next April. The team is continuing to scrimmage with Ravenclaw, helping Ravenclaw get ready for the game in two weeks against Gryffindor. I've helped Rosier work the practice Quidditch game to plan strategies, and given him plenty of one on one advice. I'm just not going to stop doing all the other things I need or want to do, despite his complaining."

"James told me in no uncertain terms that he considers Slytherin helping Ravenclaw being disloyal to him and the rest of the Potter and Weasley families," Cleo grumbled as she wrote down another sentence on her homework. "I told them they could practice with Hufflepuff, but he dismissed that idea. Rose and I had to finally tell him to stop asking us to relay his stupid complaints." She shook her head at James' antics.

"Is Roxanne going to call a cousins and friends meeting?" Albus wondered, picking up his paper and making sure the ink was dry before rolling it up and putting it away. "We haven't had one since the start of the year."

"I can ask her," Cleo replied, with a grin at Albus question. "Victoire could control your rather raucous cousins. I'm not sure if Roxanne can. I'm not looking forward to James confronting you at a cousins and friends meeting."

* * *

Firenze met Al and Cleo at the edge of the forest shortly after breakfast Saturday morning. He led them to a place where they had met before. Halfway to the clearing he indicated that Albus and Cleopatra should again be naked to their waist. Albus noticed that Cleopatra was bigger on top than she was last spring, her long hair giving her almost enough modesty to cover herself, but still left enough to notice. Cleo usually wore her hair in two big plaits, but the unruly mess of hair was unbound and in front for this visit. It wasn't unusual for a guy to be naked above the waist, but he was embarrassed for Cleopatra. Even when they were not trying, if the emotions were intense, they could feel what the other was feeling.

Cleopatra was feeling that if the female centaurs did not wear anything on top then, when she was with them, she didn't need to either. She did notice Albus noticing her out of the corner of her eye. If it had been anyone else she would have been embarrassed, but with Albus it was rather pleasant. She just wished Albus would start puberty. She had started to develop earlier than most of the girls, and some her classmates had still not started to develop a more adult shape.

Their meeting started with some pleasantries, and some going over what had happened since the last time they met in the spring. Then Magorian told them, "The centaurs in Switzerland say that big changes are coming, and that the two of you are at the center of the changes. What have you been doing to the castle?"

"Making it look prettier," Cleo volunteered, beaming. "I LOVE the castle, but it was so dark and gloomy. Rose and I changed colors and brightened everything we could. Al and I took down the stupid guard wall between the road and the castle."

Magorian went on, his muscular arms crossing his chest, "The centaurs say that the gates at the bottom of the castle are more approachable, but they are still mostly closed. At one time that herd served as prophets, working with the Magi prophets, but they have not been welcome for hundreds of years."

"We should be able to change that next summer, or sooner if you think we need to," Albus proposed.

"We are not easy to contact, either here or in Switzerland," Magorian protested. "We can meet with other herds, using magic, but it is not always quick nor easy."

Albus was silent for several moments as he mulled over ideas. "You could use Magi/Muggle Mobiles," Albus theorized. At Magorian's puzzled look, he pulled his out and showed the Leader.

Magorian looked impressed. "Could we use it?" he asked.

"Let me call my dad and see if we can try it." Albus pulled out his mobile. He was glad he was close enough to a cell tower to receive a signal, so he dialed his father.

Harry looked at his mobile, and blinked when he saw Albus calling him. He quickly tapped the proper button on the screen and answered, "Hello Albus."

"Hello, Dad. I'm in the Forbidden Forest with the centaurs. They are telling us that they have a hard time getting in touch with Magi when they want to, and even have a hard time talking to herds in other countries. They are in sight of a cell tower here, and I know Switzerland has mobile service everywhere except in some of the less used caves and caverns. Is there any reason why they could not use mobiles?"

Harry was in the Potter/Weasley box at one of the Quidditch stadiums, watching baby Minerva while Ginny was talking to some of the players, doing interviews for her Quidditch column. Ginny had just arrived back at the box. Harry mouthed that he was talking to Albus. Ginny gave him a puzzled look, so Harry told Ginny, "Albus wants to give the centaurs mobiles so they can talk to us and each other easier."

Ginny considered the proposal and came up with a possible problem, "They don't have pockets," Ginny exclaimed. "Where will they put them?"

"Cleo is with Albus," Harry quipped with a laugh. "If anyone can talk the centaurs into having pockets it is Cleo."

Ginny looked at the outfit she was wearing. At least the blouse she was wearing had pockets, big mother type pockets, but the tights did not. It was hard to imagine any piece of outerwear that Cleo would wear that did not have ample pockets.

The mobile was on speakerphone and the two children heard Ginny's question. Cleo looked at the centaurs. Two of the females wore bags or containers of some sort. One of the males wore a belt across one shoulder that held a crossbow and quiver with arrows on his back. "You could put a mobile here!" Cleo exclaimed, as she took out her mobile and held it up to the belt on the front of the centaur.

All the centaurs gathered around, and Albus lost his signal. "I think there are too many magical beings too close to my mobile," Albus theorized when the Centaurs looked curious as to what had happened. "Please back away from us."

Most of the centaurs backed away, and Al redialed his father. "Too many centaurs too close," Al explained when his father picked up the call again.

"We need to talk about this," Magorian announced. "Harry Potter, we will contact Albus if we want to pursue this further."

Firenze looked at Magorian, and then the rest of the herd. "Tell Albus and Cleo what you have noticed around the spiders," he beseeched the herd.

Magorian took a deep breath. "The spiders are afraid again, and we have seen some small animals killed the same way we did when there was a basilisk, before the last war. We think there is a small outlet from The Chamber of Secrets and somewhere close to the spider nest, but we do not know where it is. We are afraid to try to find it. Even small basilisk can kill or paralyze you with their eyes."

"I think Dad's glasses can deflect a basilisk's stare," Albus thought. He repeated his theory over the speaker. "Dad, can your glasses keep people safe from the stare of a basilisk?"

"Yes, Albus," Harry replied, beginning to feel a bit of dread in his stomach.

"Would it work for centaurs as well?"

"I don't see why not," Harry surmised. "Is there a basilisk at Hogwarts, or in the forest?" He looked up at Ginny when she grasped his shoulder in shock.

"The centaurs think there is a small passage from the Chamber of Secrets to somewhere close to the spiders in the forest, and that there is a small basilisk coming out and hunting," Albus told his father, repeating Magorian's statement.

"That is a problem," Harry agreed. He covered Ginny's hand with his own and gave her a reassuring smile. "I will see about getting glasses for the herd. Find out how many they are going to need."

Al, Cleo and the herd spent the next couple of hours talking about the basilisk, glasses, and mobiles. They were still debating when Firenze took Al and Cleo back to the castle.

* * *

As soon as they were back from visiting the centaurs, Albus took Cleo to Myrtle's bathroom. Cleo went in first, calling, "Hello, Miss Myrtle. May Albus and I come in?"

"Please," a reasonably pleasant Myrtle replied.

"Can you get into the Chamber of Secrets?" Albus asked.

"I never wanted to," Myrtle exclaimed with a dramatic sniff. "That's where the basilisk that killed me came from. I have horrible memories surrounding that place."

"Has anybody been going to the Chamber of Secrets?" Albus asked, trying to keep the ghost from going into a full blown tantrum.

"Tom Hanley used the sink a couple of times his fifth year," Myrtle remembered. "He has not been in here since. I have heard some strange noises coming from under there, but I don't dare try to follow the pipes."

"We are going to examine the passageway," Albus told the ghost.

"Not while I am around," Myrtle shouted. With a wail Myrtle went to sulk in the u-bend of her toilet.

Albus took out a piece of map-making paper, and he and Cleo tried to make a map of the area under the sink. After several tries, it was obvious that there was magic blocking their attempts.

Albus called his father later that day, and explained the situation. "I will try to be there next weekend," Harry told his son. "I want to spend enough time with you trying to figure out what is going on in that bathroom with the passageway."

* * *

Saturday October twentieth Harry Potter came through the Floo in Minerva McGonagall's office. "Thank you for letting me come, Minerva," he said to his old friend as he gave her a hug, "and for using your Floo."

"I'm interested in the Chamber of Secrets too," Minerva replied. The two adults left Minerva's office, making small talk about the newest Potter as they went to Myrtle Warren's bathroom, where they found Albus, Scorpius, Rose and Cleo already waiting for them there.

Myrtle Warren was also there, looking very nervous. She blushed and waved at Harry when he came in. "You can still join me in my toilet if something happens."

"Ah thank Myrtle," Harry stammered while Minerva hid a laugh.

"We have spent a little time in map making this week," Albus explained. "It seems we can make better maps with all four of us work together, one at each corner of the area we want to map. I guess that is not surprising, since the spells were developed by Grandpa Potter and his three friends."

"I think you need to speak parseltongue to open the sink," Harry suggested. "Can any of you?"

"I've heard it often enough," Myrtle replied, surprising the group. "Just don't ask me to stay around if it does open. I will try." She hissed something, and the sink rose up, revealing… nothing.

Myrtle promptly disappeared.

The four friends tried to make a map of the chamber passage with only partial success. Harry frowned when he tried to make the map. Both maps showed there was a magical passageway there, but it was blocked. No spell seemed to be able to penetrate it.

Harry excused himself and called someone on his mobile. When he explained who was coming, Minerva went up to her office to wait, and about half an hour later was back with one of the Aurors and a goblin. "I have the tools you wanted, Harry," the Auror announced as he gave Harry what looked like two large plastic cases that held tools. On the cases were the words, "Dunnings, Magic Tool Division." In very small letters, "A division of Dursley, Potter and Weasley LTD."

"Minerva, this is Eniac the goblin," Harry said in introduction. "He is an important partner in Dursley, Potter and Weasley, the group of businesses Bill Weasley runs. He and his staff made it possible for us to drill through the spells protecting the last of the Death Eaters, using the magical shielding paper to confuse the spells. The combination of Muggle and Magi technology is much more powerful than either of them alone.

"Greg Cooper is the Auror in our office that specializes in using Muggle and magic technology. He works with Angelina's Angel Armor, the company Angelina Weasley and Ron Weasley run that develops and sells protective gear and other things to law enforcement departments around the world."

"How many things are you involved with?" Minerva chided with astonishment (and some pride). "Sometimes I think you have a hand in everything."

"I don't own any of Angelina's Angel Armor," Harry reassured Minerva with an easy smile. "That would be a conflict of interest." Minerva had to fight to keep from rolling her eyes at him.

Greg took out what looked like a large drill and a rather conventional drill bit. He then slipped a tube made of some sort of silvery material over the bit.

Cleo looked at the tube, bewildered. "It's an outie instead of an inny?" she wondered.

Greg gave Cleo another of the tubes as he went to work. Cleo examined the tube for several minutes before leaning over to Al and saying, "You know, when I look into something that is bigger on the inside than the outside, I can see where the extra goes into a place that is not exactly in our three dimensional world. This tube is sort of like that, but instead of enclosing space it sticks out into space."

Eniac had been just about to drill when he heard Cleo's comment and asked her to repeat what she 'saw'. He thought for a few moments before conjuring a quill, ink and parchment and wrote something down. "Her insights may help us model magical space," he commented as he put the parchment in the crate.

Greg handed Cleo several pieces of paper and told Cleo, "There is some of this magical paper inside the drill. It is in some strange pattern the Metalworking Dwarves figured out, to confuse the spell and not try and force its way in." Cleo examined the paper with great interest.

Greg picked up the drill and drilled into the place where the maps showed there should be a space, bringing out dirt instead of stone. He drilled four holes about two feet apart, and then took out a thin bladed saw and connected the holes. When he finished they waited but a nothing fell out or shriveled, and instead of stone there was dirt. When the dirt was removed there was another spell.

Everyone examined the passageway that was filled with dirt.

"I've seen this before," Greg explained, scratching his ear. "Someone wants to make sure a magical passageway is not used, so they fill it with dirt and spells, the spells every few inches. It is easier to do than to undo. It could take weeks or months to take out all this dirt. It probably took weeks to put it in like this."

"No one is getting into or out of the Chamber of Secrets using that passageway?" Harry asked.

"Not quickly, that is for sure," Greg concluded.

The group left, everyone unsatisfied but vowing to try and find other ways to get into the Chamber.

* * *

Authors Note. My story "Bad Guys and Broomsticks" has much more about the magical substance that Cleo examined, as well as Eniac, Dudley Dursley, and the drills.


	7. Ch 7 The Shampoo Business

Ch 7 The Shampoo Business

More excellent suggestions and changes by Deb, my Beta. Thank you.

* * *

Cho Chang approached Harry the second Monday in October. "I need to take a few vacation days, Harry. Ed and I need to pick up Chloe and, well, it's …" Cho gave a great big sign, obviously trying to control her emotions.

Harry motioned Cho to come into his office. "Take your time, Cho," he counseled.

"I know that Chloe has wanted to be a boy since she was little, and that her transformation to a boy is what is best for her. It's just hard for me to accept. Ed, my husband, does not seem to have any problem with it. At least I'm not having the problem Patricia's family has had. She's not welcome home. Ed and I have agreed that when they are not in school they both can stay with us. I've just have to get used to calling Chloe Charles, and Patrick Patricia.

"We are picking up both of them from Switzerland. I understand that Muggle's cannot totally transform, but with some very advanced magic Magi can. All I know is that the transformation was painful, but both of the young people seem happy. I just wish I was happier."

"Take all the time you need," Harry told Cho.

"They will be at Hogwarts by the end of the week," Cho informed Harry as she arose and left his office.

Listening to people's personal issues was not a large part of Harry's day, he thought, but it was an important part.

* * *

The middle of October Chloe Koizumi and Patrick Lee came back from Switzerland. To be precise, the former Chloe, now fully it appeared a male Charles Koizumi, and the former Patrick, now fully it appeared a female Patricia, were back from Switzerland. James told Albus, "Koizumi is in my dorm now, and he is OK. He will be a stronger beater as a guy, which is good for the Gryffindor Quidditch team."

Albus asked, "Does he talk about what he and Patricia went through to make the changes?"

James replied, "No. He's a typical guy, and doesn't want to talk about that stuff. He says he has balls and everything, and says he should be able to father babies. He wants to be an Auror and fight the bad guys, just like before. I wouldn't want to be a girl! It just seems like it would be a whole lot harder being a girl, especially a girl Quidditch player."

* * *

It was October thirtieth, the day before Halloween, before Roxanne called together the cousins. They met right after dinner in one of the rooms right under the Gryffindor commons room. Erica Lionheart was with James. They started dancing lessons in third year, and it was surprising to the Muggle born students how many of the students started to pair up that early. Magi did seem to mature about two years earlier than the normal Muggle, but there was a wide range of when both Muggle and Magi matured.

Roxanne asked, "Are there any matters we need to discuss?"

"Albus being a traitor?" James bellowed.

"James, you are totally out of line!" Roxanne yelled, glaring at him.

Louis Weasley agreed, stressing, "We are all really tired of you bellyaching about your brother, James."

James folded his arms and sulked, but stayed quiet.

Roxanne looked around again.

Albus looked at Cleo, who gave a small nod, then turned back to the group and volunteered, "Cleo and I need help with the shampoo and perfume business. Is there anyone of you that wants to help?"

"I would love to help," Louis Weasley promptly replied, leaning forward on his chair, his expression eager and excited. "The people you really should get to help are the Middy twins. They are experts at anything to do with sex and couples."

Albus and Cleopatra joined their minds, wordlessly thinking through the situation. Louis was maybe the best looking boy in Hogwarts, blond, broad shoulders but not musclebound, small butt, the classic T shaped male without having an exaggerated figure. He was almost always smiling, with a personality that was as attractive as his physical looks. Albus knew that Louis's X chromosomes carried the Veela genes, and he was as close to a male Veela as you could be.

Rose butted in with condescension evidence in her voice, "The Middy twins? Those flighty females? They are all giggles and long curly hair and frilly female clothes. They are not stylish, just sickly cute. They look like they are empty heads."

Lucy was there with Bob Hudson. They were in the same year as the twins and knew them, and Lucy retorted, "Bob and I have been in class with the Middy twins. Mary and Maggie are as smart as they come. Their personalities are as different as they could be to your all too serious demeanor, but you can be smart without being an uptight twat. The Middy twins are just looking for something different than you are, Rose."

They are just looking for "M R S degrees," Roxanne sneered.

Lucy continued, "Look at Lavender Brown Blackburn. She was as flighty as they come, and she was part of Dumbledore's Army. She was an Auror, and is still in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

"Have you met the Middy's dad? He makes bra's and women's clothes, and comes across as, as anything but a strong guy, but he is still a qualified Auror, and he led the operation that rescued his family from captivity in Asia after the War. And Mrs. Middy helped Aunt Hermione write books on raising magical children."

"You are engaged to Frank Longbottom, Roxanne!" Louis retorted, exasperated at his female cousins. "Don't criticize them because it looks like they are going to marry right out of Hogwarts! Albus has asked for help, and I've agreed. That's it! We do not have to talk any more about it, please."

The rest of the meeting was an overview by each of the students of their schedules and classes, as much as each wanted to reveal. When the meeting was finished, Cleopatra and Albus approached Louis. They spent some time explaining what they did, and how they used spells and samples of scents to determine the best shampoo, soap, and perfume. They also touched his wand with their wands, to share some of the power and knowledge that they had accumulated since the previous Christmas.

"I'm going to approach the Middy twins tomorrow," Louis told Albus and Cleo as they parted.

* * *

Louis went over to the Ravenclaw table after dinner the next day, to talk to the Middy twins. He was going to be doing two of his favorite things, talk about business and talk to two pretty girls. The Middy twins were a little heavy, like their mother, but like their mother most of the weight went to nice places. Henry Edington was dating Mary. Louis knew they were a couple. Henry was starting studies to be a toolmaker, and he would, Louis guessed, end up working for Dursley, Potter and Weasley, making a very good living making tools using Muggle CNC machines with more than a little magic thrown in. He had two and a half years before he graduated, but he was studying Computer Aided Design, using computers in the building you used the magical shortcut to get to. Mary seemed to want to work with her mother in the child care business, although she had plenty of time to change her mind.

Maggie was dating Ernest Colin Macmillan. The Macmillan family was wealthy, and if she wanted to Maggie could probably never have a paying job. Louis was always surprised at how quickly some of the Magi paired up. Louis knew that some of the Pure Blood families still tried to arrange marriages, and often married right out of Hogwarts.

"Would you like to help with Al and Cleo's shampoo, soap and perfume business?" Louis asked the twins after taking a seat at the table. "They want to teach others how to make the scents. You will earn money if you help."

"I would love to help," Mary replied happily. "Is that something I can do after I graduate?" Mary looked up to Henry with love in her eyes. "Henry is going to be making an adequate living as an apprentice toolmaker, but we could use a second income, something I could do while I am pregnant or nursing."

"Isn't it a little early to be thinking about having children?" Louis countered, shocked at Mary's words. "You are only, what, fifteen?"

"I'm from a poor Muggle family," Henry explained with a shrug. "I want a better life for Mary and me and our children. I will help Mary or you."

Maggie looked at Ernest. You could tell they were communicating just by the expressions going back and forth. Finally she told Louis, "I don't mind helping some while I am at school, but I don't think I am going to do much after I graduate. EC, the family calls Ernest EC, and I will probably be traveling learning the business after we marry, and once we have children I'm not going to have to work. I can, but with the Macmillan business interests I have to be very careful with what I do."

Louis was frustrated at Maggie's pairing up so early, and not even wanting to help, but understood that it was her prerogative. "We will start with Mary, then," Louis told Maggie. He turned to Mary, explaining, "I would tell you more, but it is Halloween. I will see you at the Ball tonight, and we can talk more this weekend."

After Dinner people left the hall so it could be magically arranged for the annual Halloween Ball. Most of the young Magi rushed to their rooms to change into their finest. At 8:00 PM the Great Hall was opened, with a band on the raised area in front, and small tables and seating areas around the outside. The ghosts were all there at the entrance, welcoming all the people coming to the Ball.

Albus was wearing a Muggle suit, what his mother would call a 'Bankers Suit,' navy blue that was almost black, with fine striping. He wore a white shirt and a red striped tie, and looked very proper. He waited at the staircase for the girls to come down from the Gryffindor dorm.

Cleo wore her white dress with the big roses, with green vines growing up the dress. Last Christmas the dress showed the start of breasts, but over the last year she had developed, and there was no question that she was one of the more mature second year students. The vines, flowers, and detailing highlighted her shape. The dress came down well below her knees, three-quarters length.

Maybe it was the modest belly, or the way she carried herself, or just some magic that was part of her nature, but Cleopatra projected a maternal sexiness. The big pockets in the dress probably contributed to it being less 'young person' sexy and more 'maternal' sexy, as did the oversized flowers on the dress. It was very strange.

Rose wore a modest, fashionable dress. It had a high neckline, three-quarter sleeves, and was full length. There was beautiful detailing on the dress, if you looked at it up close. From further away the mat finish on the fabric, and the dark blue color, allowed you to almost disappear.

"Where is Scorpius," asked Rose, looking around for her friend.

"He is taking Cassiopeia Starkey to the dance," Albus explained, nodding to where the two were chatting. "She wanted to go with him. I understand that you made it clear that you think you are too young to go to a dance with anybody."

"Witches want to pair up too early," Rose grumbled. "I don't see why we have to start to learn to dance third year." She followed Albus and Cleopatra to the Great Hall.

Louis was dressed in a Muggle suit as well, but his was more flamboyant. Louis could wear bracelets and a little flash, his hair in a ponytail, and look as masculine as any male in the Great Hall. He had a girl on his arm, as usual for these dances, since he was a good date. None of them were serious girlfriends.

Maggie's dress was a little subdued compared to years past, and EC wore an obviously expensive suit. Mary, however, was showing just about as much bust and cleavage as you could get away with at Hogwarts, with a dress that was every bit as colorful and floozy as any in the Great Hall. Maggie's hair had been recently cut and styled, coming down to her shoulders, but Mary's hair was wildly curled and free and came half way down her back. Henry Edington wore a well-worn suit, probably purchased second hand.

Cleo glommed on to Louis, and dragged him over to Mary, Albus and Louis's date following along. "I hear you are going to help us with the shampoo and soap business!" she exclaimed.

"I would like to," Mary replied, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Mum and dad are going to help us rent an apartment on Joy Street, right off Diagon Alley, when we marry, and Henry is going to be making some money as an apprentice as soon as we graduate, but money is still going to be tight. I'm going to save most of the money I make."

The group sat at a table together and agreed that Mary and Cleo would meet most Saturday mornings until Christmas, working on designing the scents. Saturday mornings were one time Cleo was free and Albus was often busy, usually practicing Quidditch. Louis was going to meet with them, learning both how to design the scents and how to record the formula and arrange for payment. Louis was the only one of the three real concerned about the details of the business, but Mary wanted to make money.

Albus and Cleo said were going to try to have Mary over to Grimmauld Place to work on the actual making of the scents over Christmas, and to have Louis there as well. It took about twenty minutes to finalize arrangements before Albus and Cleo left to see other people.

* * *

Rose sat at a table with Dis and Frerin, as Albus and Cleopatra circulated, talked to other people, and even awkwardly danced a little. Professor McGonagall caught sight of Rose and had to cover a smile as she wondered if the girl was aware of how much she looked like her father with that scowl that discouraged anyone from approaching her. Unaware of her Professor's amusement, she watched as Cassiopeia Starkey tried to teach Scorpius how to dance. During a couple of slow dances Rose thought Cassiopeia was trying to see if she could merge her body with Scorpius. The Weasley family were huggers, but this was different. It was too much like somebody feeling all your feminine parts, something she wanted no part of, at least until she was much older.

The frustrating thing is that she liked all the things about being a stupid housewife. She liked clothes. She liked decorating a house. Cooking was all right, but what she really liked was planning a menu. She had read somewhere about a Muggle job of being a party planner. 'My mother is going to be the Minister of Magic, and I'll just be a party planner,' she thought. What a comedown.

She didn't think she would mind being pregnant and nursing a baby, and she liked little children. It was just that compared to her mother it was so insignificant, and besides it was still hard to think about some guy pawing her body. Scorpius could just feel up Cassiopeia, and next year learn to dance with her, and she and Scorpius could just be friends.

* * *

The Saturday after Halloween Cleo met with Louis Weasley and Mary Middy in the portrait room next to the Great Hall. The students knew that Cleo was there most Saturday mornings, and that is where to meet her to arrange to order personalized soap, shampoo, and perfume.

They were sitting around a table that had six chairs. Cleo arranged fifty bottles of various sizes and colors on the table. "How do you choose from all those scents?" Mary asked.

"These bottles are male scents," Cleo explained as she motioned to the bottles on her left. Mary noticed that their labels were outlined in blue. "These bottles are female scents," she said as she motioned to the bottles on the right. The labels were outlined in red. "These can be either." She pointed to the grouping in the middle, whose labels were outlined in greens, yellows and black. "They are arranged in order of age or if you are in a relationship or not. Albus has written down something about each of the scents." Cleo brought out a several page printout, handing them to both Louis and Mary.

"Is that a spreadsheet?" Louis asked as he puzzled over the columns and colors and noticed that they pertained to the labels.

"Albus does it on his tablet," Cleo agreed with a nod, "and has told me that is what it is. I seem to have too much magic to work the tablet. I cannot even use some of the Magi/Muggle Mobiles, and if I get too close to anything electrical or electronic it may not work."

"The lights in the New Burrow don't flicker when you are there," Louis countered.

"They did when I first visited last year," Cleo replied. "It is hard to control the magic."

Cleo had posted on the door that they were not going to be meeting with anyone until ten, because they were training new people. At ten Charles Koizumi and Patricia Lee appeared, peeking around the door.

"Patricia says we need new scents," Charles announced, looking at Patricia with an 'I'm putting up with this' sigh. "I don't want to smell like a girl, not after going through all the work to become a boy."

"Girls can wear pretty scents," Patricia proclaimed, smiling an 'isn't this great' smile. Patricia was wearing a dress that was tight enough to show that her body had changed over the months when she was in Switzerland. She wore a subtle lipstick, and her nails were painted. Charles was sloppily wearing a shirt and trousers, looking like a typical boy who was not all that concerned about his appearance.

Cleo looked at Charles, and pointed out several scents for Charles to try. She waved her wand over Charles, and then had Louis and Mary do the same. Within fifteen minutes they had picked out a rather conventional scent for Charles.

Cleo then waved her wand over Patricia, and had Louis and Mary do the same. She pointed out several scents to try. It took about half an hour to finalize scents for her, including perfume.

When they were finished, Louis asked, "What was the hardest part about going through the transition?"

"Parents," grumbled Patricia with a pained look. "Mine don't really approve."

"Dad doesn't mind," Charles explained. "He's kidded me about wanting to be a boy for years. Mum puts up with it, but secretly she is having a harder time with it. They accept Patricia better than her parents do, but Mum doesn't really understand her."

"What was the hardest part about actually going through it?" Louis wanted to know.

"The bones," Patricia looked at Charles than back at Louis and volunteered. "Soft body parts are not so hard. My boy parts just became smaller and then disappeared, and the female parts slowly appeared. I guess the part that made me fertile was real tricky, but it wasn't hard on me. Female hips and knees are different, and when the bones changed it hurts. They need to be different so your hips can be flexible enough to have children."

"My knees are stronger, as are my muscles!" Charles exclaimed happily. "I'm strong like a man!"

Patricia rolled her eyes.

"I'm not sure when we can have the soap, shampoo, and perfume, but it will be before Christmas," Cleo announced as she finished completing the order paperwork and bill.

Once the two had left Cleo asked, "Did you understand how I picked out and will be making the scents?"

"I can learn," Louis answered with a casual shrug. "I do not thing any person could. You have to be willing to really try and understand the other person."

"Learning is going to be fun," Mary exclaimed happily clapping her hands than leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially. "Are those two going to get married?"

"Probably," Cleo replied. "It is not a sure thing, but I'm getting the feeling that they are heading in that direction.

"You need to be very careful about what you tell people, especially if you can sense people are not a good pair. Once in a while you can use the scents to force people apart, but Albus tells me we should not normally be doing it. The biggest problem I have is with a few people, mostly boys but occasionally a girl, who I can tell is an abuser or someone that should not marry anyone. I don't know what to do about it, and Albus does not have any good answers either."

"Isn't that what Lavender Brown Blackburn and their group in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement does, deal with people who are abusers?" Louis asked.

"I do not know anything about that," Cleopatra confessed. "Ask Albus, or your Uncle Harry."

* * *

Louis watched as Cleopatra went off with Albus, Rose and Scorpius. He went into the Great Hall, and saw the headmistress sitting at a table talking to a small group of students. He waited until she was free, and then approached her.

"Hello, Professor McGonagall. May I ask you a question?"

The professor kindly responded, "You may, and I will even try to answer, Mr. Weasley." She motioned to a chair inviting him to sit.

"Why do Magi seem to pair up so early?" Louis asked as he sat down.

"There are several reasons," Professor McGonagall sighed and thought for several moments before continuing her response. "Physically we mature a little earlier, which is one reason the age of majority for Magi is seventeen instead of eighteen or twenty-one as it is in many Muggle societies. In addition the British Magi society is very old fashion. One hundred and more years ago many people married much earlier than they do today in the Muggle world. I had hoped that giving the students the chance to study for an extra year or two, and having Muggle subjects taught the last four years, would encourage our students to put off marriage for a few more years. It has worked for some of our students, but not for as many as I would like."

She tilted her head and asked, "Why are you asking?"

Louis answered, "I want to work with my father in the businesses he manages. I know I need to learn Muggle finance and business as well as magic. I'm working with Cleo and Albus on the soap and perfume business, and I just see too many of us trying to grow up too fast."

"And you wonder if there will be anyone left for you if you wait…" she gave him a knowing smile and a pat on his hand, "Your parents, aunts and uncles all had to grow up too fast," the headmistress confessed. "Today's students are not being forced to grow up like your parents. You don't have to worry about anyone else, Mr. Weasley. Take your time growing up."

"I'm not really worried about myself," Louis elaborated. "I have never had any problem relating to girls. Some of the other guys complain that I could probably convince any girl at Hogwarts to go out with me."

"The staff has noticed," Minerva laughed. "We always are curious which girl will be on your arm when you go to dances."

"I just try to ask a girl that is not going with some other wizard," Louis elaborated. "I am not ready to settle down. I am going to be helping Albus and Cleo in their scent business, and I can already see that Cleo gets insights into people, and couples, and who should and should not pair up. I want to learn about business, not be a psychologist."

"If you are going to manage people, Louis, learning some psychology will come in handy," Minerva confided. "Personnel issues can be some of the hardest management issues you deal with. Please feel free to talk to me if you have any questions."

"Thank you, Professor. I will," Louis agreed as he took his leave.

* * *

The Saturday night after Halloween was one of the weeks without a church service. Instead Rabbi Sloan explained about Bar and Bas Mitzvah ceremonies, and how important they were to the Jewish community. Jean-Louis Felion and Gabrielle DuMond were Jewish, and there were two other Jewish students at Hogwarts. Jacob Cohen was a fifth year student. His sister Martha was in third year. Both of their Hebrew studies had been interrupted when they started at Hogwarts, and they were studying Hebrew with the Rabbi so they could read from the scrolls at services.

When the meeting was over, Sarah Sloan approached Cleopatra. "I understand that you helped one of the prophetesses become pregnant," Sarah said with hope and a question in her tone. "We've been married twenty-five years, and I've not been able to bear a child."

"I just prayed at the fountain, and examined her with my wand," Cleo protested, feeling a bit pressured at the sudden request. "I'll try." Cleo then examined Sarah with her wand. For a moment it looked like Cleo was going to go into a trance, as she waved the wand back and forth. The rings on Cleo and Albus' hands became visible, and began to glow. Albus went over to Cleo, and took out his wand, not knowing what he was doing. Albus had no idea what he was doing, but it felt right. Then, Cleo with her wand in her left hand, Albus with his wand in his right hand, held up the wands.

Cleo prayed, her face earnest and reverent, "God, I don't understand this. Help me. Help Sarah and Jacob fulfill the first commandment, to be fruitful and multiply."

Jacob came over and held Sarah's hand, and a soft glow settled on them.

"Thank you," Sarah mumbled as she felt the magic flow through her.

"Have fun!" Cleo exclaimed. "That's more important."

2019


	8. Ch 8 The Basilisk in the Forbidden Fore

Ch 8 The Basilisk in the Forbidden Forest

* * *

There are characters in this story that are nicer because of my Beta Deb's contribution. Thank you.

* * *

The second Quidditch game of the season was on November third, between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. The Slytherin team practiced with the Ravenclaw team to help get them ready, and partly because of the help the Slytherin team gave them, Ravenclaw was an excellent team. The score was close to being tied before James caught the snitch. James was flying better than ever. It was reported in the Quidditch magazines that James Potter was already playing at a professional level.

Harry told Ginny, "I'm worried about James. I think James is working on the protective spells on the uniforms. Did you see how close he came to the stands, the ground, and other obstacles? I think he has charmed the uniform and maybe his broom to keep him safe, but just."

"He worries me too," Ginny agreed. She looked down at baby Minerva. "I know my Mum still worries about all of us. I guess I will never stop worrying about my babies, even when they are grandparents."

"James has noticed that Erica is a girl," Harry pointed out. Erica had kissed James after the win, and although it was just a little peck, Harry and Ginny did know that James and Erica were dance partners for the dancing lessons that started third year. "If they marry right after Hogwarts, you could be a grandmother by the time you are forty-five."

Ginny looked at Harry in horror. "I have a BABY! It's too soon to think about that!" Harry snickered to himself and Ginny grinned as she smacked his shoulder.

* * *

Wednesday November seventh, while he was in Charms, Albus saw a Patronus in the shape of a mini-Centaur. The patronus proclaimed in Firenze's voice, "Albus, come to my classroom, please. It is urgent."

Professor Unbridge scowled at his student as Albus rushed out of his Charms class and went to Firenze's classroom. The centaur told Albus, "There is trouble in the forest, and I have been told to fetch you as soon as possible." The two quickly walked to the front hall and into the courtyard. "Climb on my back."

Albus mounted the centaur after Firenze knelt low enough for him to get up, and the centaur galloped into the forest. Eventually they slowed down, and stopped. They were met by Apollo and Bane, both looking grey with grief.

"Please procure those glasses that shield us from the basilisk, and those instruments you talk on," Apollo pleaded, his eyes red from weeping. "We have lost several animals to the beast, and have just lost Demetra and Chara."

"Demetra and Chara are both dead?" a shocked Albus asked, horror in his voice. "How many mobiles and glasses do you need?"

"Twenty-four glasses should be more than enough," Apollo replied. "We will keep as much of the herd away from the basilisk as possible. We think four of the … the talking things should be enough."

"They are called mobiles, and I will call my father right now," Albus vowed. He took out his mobile and called his father.

"Albus, I thought you were in class," Harry answered, sounding stern but concerned.

"Do you remember us talking about the basilisk a few weeks ago? It's killed some of the Centaurs animals and… Dad, they lost a mother and baby, Demetra and Chara, Magorian's mate and child. We really have to do something as soon as possible." Albus promptly replied. "The centaurs need twenty-four pairs of the glasses that shield you from the stare of the basilisk, and they want four mobiles as well."

"Stay where you are, Albus," Harry said over the speaker. "I am going to see how many of the glasses Aunt Angelina has on hand, and what we have to do to allow the centaurs to wear them. I will call you back as soon as I know."

* * *

Albus looked at the centaurs in horror. "Demetra and Chara are both dead?" he asked, not wanting to believe what the centaurs had told him.

"Yes," Apollo sadly confirmed, his face etched with grief.

"We have to wait for my father to call back," Albus informed the centaurs. "He is trying to see how many glasses he can get, and how to modify them to fit you."

Albus felt Cleopatra, and he knew she could feel the strong emotions that he was feeling. She had seen him feel for the ring he never wore, the Resurrection Stone, and then rush out of the room. Half an hour later, mind to mind Albus shouted, 'Demetra and Chara are dead, killed, the centaurs think, by a basilisk.'

Albus tried to control his emotions. How did his father hold it together when friends and family were killed?

* * *

"Oh, no!" Cleopatra yelled right in the middle of her Charms class.

Professor Umbridge yelled, his voice filled with loathing and disgust, "It's bad enough that Potter runs off in the middle of class without permission, but then his fat girlfriend disturbs the class. I expect you need to run after him. GO. GET OUT OF MY CLASS."

Cleopatra quickly left the classroom. None of the other teachers had picked up on her unfortunate nickname, but Professor Umbridge was nasty. Since being ordered to allow Albus to teach her the charms, and to allow her to do them her own way, the professor had lost his ability to dictate to them, and he took out his pettiness by calling her names and grumbling. It was bad enough that Mrs. Astoria Malfoy had called her fat since she first came to live at their house, and that some of the students had picked up on it. Having a professor do it was just unfair.

Cleo found an out of the way corridor and sat down on the floor. She tried to connect to Albus, without bothering him. She saw that Albus was standing in the forest next to the centaurs Apollo, Bane, and Firenze. She thought that she had heard that Demetra and Chara were dead, but she was not sure. What she did know is that everybody was unhappy, and very tense, and that Albus was waiting for a call on his mobile.

Cleopatra was shaking. She needed to … she needed to … what? It was hard to think, it was just terrible emotions. She finally thought out loud, "I don't know if I believe in all this religion stuff, but God, whatever power you are, help us. Help Albus and the centaurs and everybody … and me." Cleo though of Demetra and Chara, and the tears came, and came, and came, until the front of her blouse was wet.

Cleopatra listened through Albus's eyes and ears as the centaurs explained what was happening in the forest, including a graphic description of finding Demetra and Chara, eyes open, bodies partly eaten. The magic of the centaurs could tell that the two centaurs had seen something that killed them. It just wasn't fair that a mother and child would be killed like this!

Dis, Cleo's elf, could see and hear how distressed Cleo was. Normally Dis protected Cleo from physical dangers, and although most people were not aware of it, she had intercepted Magi trying to harm Cleo several times since she had been given her job. This was a different kind of problem. Cleo needed a human to talk to, not an Elf. She promptly found Plato, the Head Elf, in the Elf quarters. Plato had a map, courtesy of Albus, and quickly found out that Professor Cinnamon Appleleaf was free.

"Cinnamon is good at talking to human girls with problems," Plato told Dis. "She should be able to help."

Dis appeared at the door to the Appleleaf quarters in the married professor's housing at Hogwarts, and knocked on the door. Professor Appleleaf opened the door.

"I am Dis, and I am Cleopatra's Elf," Dis introduced herself.

"I know who you are, Dis," the professor acknowledged. "Why this visit?"

"Something has happened to cause Albus Potter to rush out of Charms. Whatever it is, Cleopatra seems to know, and when she said something in class Professor Umbridge called her fat and told her to leave the class. Whatever it is, Cleopatra is sitting in the hall outside the classroom crying."

"I will come with you to talk to Cleo," Cinnamon told the Elf. She called for an Elf who, Dis knew, worked as a babysitter for a number of the professors. "Please take care of Ruby," Cinnamon told the Elf. "She should be waking up from a nap soon. I will take Daisy with me."

The professor left her three year old daughter with the babysitting Elf, and let Dis take her to where Cleopatra was sitting.

Cinnamon sat down on the floor, holding the baby, and kindly asked Cleopatra, pulling the crying girl against her for a quick hug, "What is going on? Other than Professor Umbridge calling you fat."

Cleo sighed, "Albus is with Firenze and the centaurs, and a mother and baby are dead. I KNOW them, and it is not fair that they have been killed. I know that all the centaurs are upset, and so is Albus. How do people handle tragedy?"

"I do not know," Cinnamon acknowledged with a sigh of her own. "Each person handles it in a different way."

Cleo pulled away and looked over at baby Daisy. "May I hold the baby, please? Maybe that will make me feel better."

"Maybe holding Daisy will help," Cinnamon agreed, putting Daisy in Cleo's lap. Daisy spent several seconds of the change trying to figure out if she like that until she turned to look at Cleo and was distracted by the buttons on Cleo's shirt. She began to happily play with them babbling happily to herself.

"I should not be so upset at Professor Umbridge calling me fat," Cleo mused as she watched the baby playing. "I am a little heavy, and after all those years of Mrs. Astoria Malfoy calling me fat I guess I should be used to it."

"Even if you were obese, which you are not, there is no excuse for a professor calling you names. You are thirteen, you are still growing, your weight is the last thing you need to worry about," Cinnamon retorted. "If I can I will see if I can get it to stop." She mused to herself that Umbridge is the last one who should be calling Cleo fat as he was sporting quite the belly himself. She made a mental note to talk to Madam Pomfrey about healthy eating, size and such for the girls and to makes sure that no one is suffering from eating disorders because of people expectations about weight. Cleo was not obese. You could tell she was a bit heavy, but her body was getting ready for another growing spurt, so her weight would soon equal what it should be for her height and shape.

"Professor Umbridge just hates me," Cleo grumbled, letting Daisy play with her fingers.

"He is not being professional by showing it," Cinnamon responded. "He is probably just jealous. From what my husband tells me, you are an extraordinarily talented Magi. Umbridge is not very talented, although he is an acceptable teacher. I do not know what I can do about it, but I am going to tell Professor McGonagall what Dis told me about Professor Umbridge calling you names."

Cleo cooed at the baby, "Hi, Daisy. I hope no one calls you names. Holding you helps."

"Oooh waha ooh," Daisy responded, as she continued to babble, looking back at her mother and smiling widely at her.

"Thank you, Professor," Cleo sighed. "This helps."

* * *

Harry Potter pushed a button on his desk phone, and one of the assistants answered, "Yes, Mr. Potter."

"I need four new Magi/Muggle Mobiles, with the bills sent to the Centaur division, as soon as you can get them to me. NOW, not later today, please."

"Yes, sir," the voice on the other end answered. Harry could see a witch stand up, say something to the people around her, and run out of the department.

Harry dialed Angelina's mobile. Angelina answered, "Harry, why the call?"

"How quickly can you have twenty-four of the magical glasses that protect you against basilisk stares ready for me? If right away and fewer than twenty-four just let me know how many you have. I want to bring as many as I can to the centaurs, and if you have a way of making them stay on a centaur head we need that as well. I hope to leave for Hogwarts within the hour if that is possible."

"The difficult we do immediately," Angelina quipped. "That would be twelve or more pairs, and I am coming with you to do the fitting spells. The rest we can have within twenty-four to forty-eight hours, and I will try to do the impossible and have them sooner."

"Call me on my personal mobile as soon as you have them, and thank you," Harry replied. He then dialed Albus, thinking how much easier this was instead of communicating by Patronus. "Give me an hour or two, and I will have both the mobiles and some of the glasses," Harry informed his son.

* * *

Within half an hour Harry had the four mobiles. He took the Floo to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and then went next door to Angelina's Angel Armor, the store that Angelina and Ron owned that supplied items to worldwide Departments of Magical Law Enforcement.

"I found thirteen pair," Angelina barked when Harry came in the door. "I'm ready to go with you." She grabbed her bag and followed Harry out of her store.

Harry pulled out his phone and dialed, "I have thirteen pairs of glasses, and the four mobiles, son," Harry told Albus as soon as Albus answered his mobile. "Where are you?"

Albus asked Apollo, "Where should we meet my father?"

Apollo replied, "The forest entrance nearest Hagrid's dwelling."

"I heard that," Harry told his son. "Aunt Angelina and I will meet you."

Harry told Angelina, "I don't want to Apparate all the way to Hogwarts, not carrying all this. We will take the Floo to the store in Hogsmeade, and then go into Hogwarts."

* * *

Once she knew where Albus was going to be, Cleopatra told Professor Appleleaf, "Albus is going to be at the edge of the forest, with some of the centaurs. I think his father is going to meet him. Do you mind if I go out to meet Albus?"

Dis let the professor know, "I will go with her."

Cinnamon answered, "I really need to take Daisy back to our quarters, and leave her with the babysitters, Cleo. My husband and I both have classes next period. You may go." Daisy hugged Cleo before she handed her back to her mum and waved goodbye as Cleo got up and left the corridor.

Cleopatra ran out to meet Albus. As she was running towards Hagrid's house she saw Harry and Angelina, and waited for them. She greeted them with, "Oh, Mr. Potter, it has been years since I've seen someone killed."

"You saw someone killed," Harry asked, astonished.

Cleopatra looked at Harry, puzzled. "I do not know why I said that. I think I have seen a lot of killing, but I don't have any memories of it." Harry made a silent reminder to try and talk to Cleo later as Cleo tried to control her emotions, and the three Magi walked towards Albus and the centaurs who were waiting for them.

Albus and the centaurs were waiting for Harry and Angelina at the edge of the forest, Apollo nodded to Hagrid when the large man came out to see why Cleo and Harry were about. "Hagrid you need to be careful, it seems that another Basilisk might be around the area," Harry explained.

"Eh, that's not good the poor misunderstood bestie," Hagrid frowned.

"That poor misunderstood bestie killed Demetra and Chara," Apollo sternly told Hagrid.

Hagrid was shocked, yelling "not Demetra and Chara!" He listened as Angelina moved towards the large Centaurs and began pulling out her glasses.

Angelina fit the glasses on the centaurs who were there, and did some spell work to allow the remaining glasses to fit other centaurs. Harry give the four mobiles to Apollo, and Apollo told Harry that he would let Harry know who would be using the mobiles.

"I think two of the mobiles will be used by patrols, and will be shared, used by the centaurs on duty," Apollo explained. "I will keep one on me at all times."

When they were finished Angelina told Harry, "I am going back to see how quickly I can get more of the glasses."

"Can we have some, Dad?" Albus asked. "I think this may have something to do with Tom Riddle Hanley. He disappears, and we cannot find out where he goes. There has to be some way to get into The Chamber of Secrets. That is the last place there was a basilisk."

"I will have a dozen for you, Albus," his Aunt Angelica agreed, "I will keep a larger inventory of the glasses on hand, just in case they are needed."

"I will go up to the castle with you," Harry told Albus and Cleo. "I need to tell Professor McGonagall and the staff what is going on. I may also have to tell your story to have you excused from your last class."

"I don't know if it will help," Cleo complained. "Professor Umbridge hates me. I know I'm not thin, but he doesn't have to call me FAT all the time."

Harry and Angelina gave each other grim looks, Harry gave a small nod indicating that he would be talking to Minerva. Hagrid fell into step with Angelia and talked to her as he escorted her to the gate. He looked grimly back at the forest. Demetra and Chara were good friends and now they were gone.

* * *

Minerva McGonagall was in her office when her mobile rang. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement officer at the gate told her, "Something is going on. Harry Potter and Angelina Weasley just entered, carrying some things. I think they are headed towards Hagrid's house or the forest."

"Thank you," Minerva answered. She took out her copy of the map that Harry had given her. She could see Harry and Angelina moving quickly towards the forest, joined by Cleopatra. At the edge of the forest were Albus and three centaurs. Albus's Elf guard was close to him, and Cleo's Elf guard was close to her. The Elf guards of the two students were unobtrusive, but almost always there.

The next few years were going to be a challenge. She promised the board she would stay on until the last of the current crop of Potter and Weasley children were out of school. The school almost always had an assistant headmaster of a different sex than the headmaster, for a variety of reasons. Neville Longbottom was in line to succeed Minerva. The person she and the board had in mind for the next assistant headmaster was Cinnamon Apppleleaf, but Cinnamon and her children were both young, and Cinnamon needed a few more years before she would be ready.

The students had no idea how many things a headmaster needed to keep in mind. Rose Sprout was planning on working at another magical school, probably in Switzerland, before coming back and helping her mother. You always had to be aware of staffing and succession planning, especially as the school had grown.

Minerva was contemplating all this as she was walking down to the entrance of the castle to meet Harry, Albus and Cleopatra.

"I do not expect this is a social visit, Harry," Minerva started out in greeting.

Albus looked at his father, and Harry began, "Two centaurs, a mother and child, have been killed in the forest. The deaths have all the hallmarks of a basilisk. We have brought them magical glasses that protect from the stare of the basilisk, plus four mobiles so they can call for help. We need to bring them more glasses, and also procure some for Albus and others."

"I think Tom Riddle Hanley is getting into the Chamber of Secrets, Professor," Albus added. "I just don't have any proof. I have asked Dad to get us some of the special glasses as well."

"Can you charm my glasses to protect me?" Minerva asked.

"We can, and I should probably treat the glasses of all the staff and students. We need to dip the glasses in a special compound and then do a spell."

"Mr. Potter, Miss Smith, do you have classes?" Minerva asked the students.

"Yes, Professor," Albus answered.

"Unless you need to stay, get off to your classes," Minerva ordered.

Albus and Cleopatra ran off to their next classes, arriving just a little late.

Minerva McGonagall looked at Harry, with his wraparound aviator style glasses looking vastly different than the student with the patched round glasses that showed up at Hogwarts over twenty years ago. "I assume those glasses will protect you against the stare of a basilisk."

"Yes, ma'am," Harry politely answered.

"Don't you 'yes ma'am' me, Harry Potter," Minerva scoffed. "I don't want Albus going after that basilisk!"

"You show me where it is, and I will send a team of Aurors to kill it," Harry retorted. "I don't like all the adventures Albus has been involved in any more than you do. Less, in fact. He's my son, my flesh and blood. What do I do? Wrap him in cotton batting and hide him?"

"Albus thinks there is an entrance to The Chamber of Secrets somewhere close to the Slytherin dorm," Minerva continued. "Has he told you about it?"

"Albus and I have been working on mapping for years. Albus actually invented some mapping refinements I have been credited with. He and his friends, Cleo, Rose and Scorpius, are trying to map the lower reaches of Hogwarts," Harry replied. "He thinks that is the way to find the entrance to The Chamber. JR Hanley is usually close to the dorm when he disappears. I've told Albus not to go off on his own, or with his friends, to try and catch JR if they do find a passageway.

"Albus is usually very cautious and obedient. He is also very good at doing things and not getting caught. What can I do?"

Minerva sighed, "The trouble with our jobs, Harry, is that the easy things are taken care of before we even know about them."

Before the two friends left, Harry told Mineva what Cleo had said about Professor Umbridge calling her fat and also more of her memories unexpectedly coming out. "Maybe we should get her a memory diary so she can write down things she remembers and maybe it will help her with other memories." Minerva suggested, "and I will be talking to Urban again."

Harry smiled at her and gave her a quick hug before leaving the school.

* * *

"Two centaurs were killed today, we think by a basilisk," professor McGonagall told the assembled staff. "We think there is an entrance to the Chamber of Secrets in the castle, and we think that is where the basilisk is. We are not sure of anything at this point, but if you have any information please let us know.

"We are talking about getting glasses to protect us from the stare of the basilisk. For those of you that wear glasses, Harry can bring Magi who can treat your glasses to protect you."

After about fifteen minutes of discussion Minerva dismissed the staff, asking Urban Umbridge to stay behind. When only Minerva and Urban were in the room, Minerva informed Urban, "Dis, the Elf protecting Cleopatra Smith, told us that you are still calling Cleopatra 'Albus's fat girlfriend.' That kind of name calling has to stop! I do not allow Hogwarts professors working for me to act out their frustration or anger on their students."

Urban Umbridge sat sullenly listening. When he did not say anything, the headmistress reiterated, "I am serious, Urban."

"Yes, professor," Urban sullenly acknowledge.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "and as I can see that you are thinking of ways to retaliate, you will have a ghost watching you," Minerva smiled grimly when the man looked at her in shock. "The ghost will not only monitor your class with Miss Smith but all your other ones to make sure you do not call other students names or treat them unfairly. Is that clear?" Her gaze turned stern as the man nodded in trepidation.

"You are dismissed, Urban," Minerva sternly commanded. If Urban continued to be a problem, she was going to have to replace him.

2019


	9. ChapterCh 9 A Little This and That 9

Ch 9 A Little This and That

Again thank you for my Beta Deb, who frequently challenges me on something I write.

* * *

Sunday November eleventh, two-thousand and eighteen, the family gathered for Sunday breakfast. Molly looked distracted. Harry and Ginny had attended the funeral for Aunt Muriel earlier in the week, so Ginny asked her mother, "Are you still grieving the death of Aunt Muriel?"

"She was close to one-hundred and fifty," Molly noted with a sigh. "It was really her time. It is not her death that is bothering me."

"What is?" Ginny inquired, sensing that there was more to the story. The family stayed around the table wondering what they could do to help.

"Muriel left me the tiara," Molly explained with a grimace. "Not only is it charmed to stay on until a marriage is consummated, but it will not stay on unless a couple will have children. There are spells on the tiara to insure at least some fertility. Aunt Muriel was a Weasley before she married, and I think the tiara is one reason the Weasley family has usually had more children than the average family of Magi."

"That's not a bad thing, is it?" Ginny asked.

"Not usually," Molly admitted, "but there are Weasley families that have not been very successful, generations of poor people with children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren that have struggled. Not all branches of the family have been as successful as you and your brothers. It is not just financial success. The Weasley clan is no stranger to unhappy marriages, or other problems."

"Solon, my head Elf, and the beings working for him have done everything they could to make Dad's older brothers Anthony and Adrian, successful," Harry lamented. "It didn't work. It was like they were cursed to fail."

Bill Weasley grumbled, "I finally had to repossess their land and turn them into employees. Both of them had big families. They are hard enough workers, but not smart enough. They are thick headed, set in their ways."

"So what happens if the tiara does not stay on when you try to put it on?" Ginny had to ask.

"Family drama like you would not believe, and the person who owns the tiara is right in the middle of it," Molly complained. "Once in a while I think having that tiara is a curse."

"Do you have to keep the tiara, Mum?" Ginny asked.

"I think I do, Ginny," Molly sighed. "There are family spells and such on it, and prophesies, and I don't feel I can just sell it or even get rid of it. I did sell those stupid desert plates with the flying cupids and some of the other floozy things Aunt Muriel left to me. Other more distant relatives of ours received the bulk of the inheritance."

Bill wondered if he should carefully scan the tiara to see what curses and spells had been place on it and see if he would be able to break them. He would have to do it after he talked to his mother and Fleur as he didn't want the curses to backfire on them either.

* * *

Mapping was more successful with four people, so some Saturday afternoons Albus and Cleo, Rose and Scorpius would spend some time re-mapping Hogwarts castle. They paid special attention to areas not on the original Marauders Map, especially the lower levels. It was frustrating, however, not only to Albus and his friends, but also to the Elves.

"When we make a map it looks like that there is nothing in that direction," Albus pointed out a spot on the map to Plato, the Elf he was working with, as they examined the latest map. "We know you want to expand the Elf area in that direction, but something is keeping us from mapping that area or expanding into it."

"Could the Chamber of Secrets be there?" Rose asked, noticing that the area in question was around the Slytherin dormitory and close to the lake. "Why don't you just excavate that area?"

"Something seems to be keeping us from excavating in that direction," one of the Elves complained. "We are afraid that the basilisk is in that direction as well."

"Basilisk can kill Elves as well as Magi," Plato noted. "We are not eager to be the first to find that cursed place."

"You have heard the rumors of basilisk as well?" asked Albus.

A glum looking Plato nodded 'yes.'

"Dad is going to supply glasses that protect you from the stare of the basilisk," Albus told Plato. "I'm going to insist that all of the MELL students wear them or have their glasses treated. We can get glasses for the Elves as well."

"That is over one-hundred and fifty glasses!" Plato exclaimed, shocked that anyone would do this for Elves.

"If that is how many you need, that is how many you should have," Albus stressed. He called his father later that day, to talk to his father about getting glasses for the Hogwarts Elves. Harry agreed, thinking Angelina was going to have to procure a large number of the special glasses.

* * *

Harry woke up Thursday, the last day in November, in Switzerland. A storm was coming, and he was not talking about the weather. Harry could see it as well as anyone. All the prophets could see little bits of what was coming. All the undercover operations of the International Conference of Witches and Wizards could see it coming. But the when and how were unknown. Two days of working with the Chrystal Ball and the prophets and Harry was getting more insight into what was happening, but no insight into how to make things come out properly.

Who was becoming clearer, and that was the scariest thing of all. Albus and Cleopatra were right in the middle of many of the prophesies. Edward Remus Lupin was also involved, and the omens for Teddy were both dire and hopeful. Harry remembered occasions when the weather forecasters could see that a Hurricane or Typhon was forming, and that it would probably be a large one, but there was no way to predict if it would be a category two or three or four or even five storm, no way of telling if it would make landfall or where.

Before he left Switzerland he was going to be meeting with Al VanLente and his son Dan. They were in charge of some top secret undercover work, and Harry was one of fewer than a dozen Magi in the world who knew about it. Ginny knew he was privy to top secret information, but he didn't even share it with her. It bothered Harry to have secrets from Ginny, but there wasn't any choice in the matter.

"Edwardo Wolfman has passed his first tests," Al told Harry, using Teddy's alias, when they met. "By the first of the year he should be living on the Island."

"Is that why I see evidence that Teddy has had sexual intercourse with more than one woman, without any love?" Harry fumed. Harry was not happy with what he was seeing happening to Teddy in the Chrystal Ball. He knew that if Teddy fathered children they would show up on the Tapestry, which is why anything but Teddy's name was hidden. Harry was worried about Teddy, but also about Victoire. How would she handle a Teddy wounded body and soul, and any children Teddy fathered. If he lived.

"Yes, unfortunately, that's one of the tests," Al confirmed. "Having all the people on the island engage in depraved behavior is one way Jezebel judges people, and keeps them tied to her. I just hate sending anyone to that island. If she was not kidnapping and killing over four-hundred innocent people a year, sacrificing them with that cursed knife of the Aztec, I could almost ignore that island and let them wallow in their depravity. That is just one of the evil things that happens because of her.

"Harry, we need maps of the island, maps like your father and his friends developed with the Marauders Map. You and your son Albus are the best Magi in the world in making those maps, and you have done an excellent job teaching Teddy. If Teddy can get us those maps it will be worth it."

"Worth having Teddy die," Harry snapped. "Worth having him come back damaged body and soul?"

Al looked back at Harry with tears in his eyes, and a hopeless expression on his face. Al had spent years trying to confine the evil emanating from that island, from that evil person. There was no good answer to Harry's questions, none at all.

"Teddy should be able to meet up with Annatole and Orwant Smith, Cleopatra's parents, sometime over the next couple of months," Dan explained. "Jezebel Nukpana suspects her granddaughter and son-in-law, but they are powerful Magi, and there is only so much Jezebel can do to control Annatole and Orwant. Her only heir, besides Cleo, is Natasha, their other daughter, and if anything happens to Cleo, Jezebel needs a spare. The magic demands that Jezebel has an heir.

"Jezebel was planning on having Draco and Astoria raise Cleopatra to be like Lucius, and instead Narcissa has raised two good children. You know the prophesies, Harry. We may actually rid the earth of that evil. It is just not going to be risk free. One of my classmates escaped from that island. She left behind two children who were killed by Jezebel, their beating hearts publicly cut out in one of Jezebel's cursed ceremonies. She is in a hospital consumed by guilt, all too sane but not functioning."

Harry spent the morning going over the undercover operation, and the afternoon on some of the few duties being Regent of the Swiss Valley entailed, before taking the International Floo back to the Ministry and then a Magical Closet home.

* * *

Ginny took the Floo to the office of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. There was a private staircase from there to the upstairs apartment of George and Angelina. Ginny though that George was probably never going to move to a house. Despite the Wheezes having offices in one of the buildings on Joy Street, right off Diagon Alley, and a manufacturing plant in Devon close to Ottery St. Catchpole, George was enough of a shopkeeper that he needed to live above the main store. When they purchased the store building next door they expanded the apartment, but they often used the living and dining rooms for business meetings.

Ron led her upstairs to the dining room. Angelina had filled the dining room with the latest editions of _Ginny Potter's Heroes of Hogwarts Action Figures_ and _Ginny Potter's Quidditch Action Figures._ Harry did not want his name associated with this type of merchandise. The idea of _Harry Potter_ merchandise embarrassed him, and with his position in the Ministry and in the wider world of the Magi he did not think it was proper for him to license the _Harry Potter_ name. Ginny had been involved with merchandising, however, ever since she had signed with the Harpies, and had become quite good at it.

The figures had not changed, but it had been more than twenty years since The Battle of Hogwarts, and fifteen years since Ginny was a Harpy, and the brief piece of paper that had been included with the original figures had expanded to a small booklet explaining who each person was and what they had done. Ginny was not only a good sports reporter, but had written a biography of each person.

Once they were finished, Ginny contemplated the two Ginny figures. The first, the Ginny Weasley figure, showed her at her best. She was the shortest of the figures, but it showed a very cute figure, with a bust that was neither too big nor too small, a narrow waist, and ample hips. The three and six inch figures did not show freckles, but the freckles on the twelve inch figure were much prettier than her face really was. Photographs showed her with freckles that really were blotchy instead of light and cute, and they had not become any smaller, lighter or prettier as she had aged. The Ginny Potter Quidditch figure was noticeably thinner, but even her bony figure, when she was too thin to have a period or become pregnant, showed some bust and thinner but ample hips. None of the figures showed her scars, the ones from before the Battle, inflicted by the Carrows, nor the badly mangled knee that could only be repaired with a Muggle metal knee. The knee surgery left a big scar, and she never wore short dresses or anything that exposed that knee. The ugly scar on her arm, from learning to heal sectumsempra cuts, was also missing from the figures, a reason she usually wore long sleeves. Not much was hidden when she wore a bathing costume, but Harry wasn't much better, with lightning shaped scars on his forehead and chest, and other scars on his body.

Her head injury that had ended her Quidditch career was invisible, but her inability to exercise as much as she would like, plus four children, and she was way heavier than when she was sixteen, seventeen, eighteen. She shouldn't really complain. Despite her injuries and scars, despite her weight, her life was usually very happy, with the best, most faithful husband a woman could have, four healthy children, and a wider family that could not be much better. Her Quidditch column was well received, and her professional life was satisfying as well. Life was good.

Ginny looked at the figures of the other women of the DA. Luna was still about the same, her face older because of exposure to the sun, but still a thin, slight figure. The Lavender Brown figure was busty and hippy, not exactly thin in the middle but the just a little heavy. All the extra weight went into the right places, giving her a figure that guys who wanted a curvy girl liked. The current Lavender was well over twice as heavy, with huge hips and breasts, and a mammoth stomach. Ginny knew she was heavy, but not as heavy as Lavender. The Hanna Abbott figure was shaped like a shorter Lavender. The current Hanna was heavier, looking like a well filled out proprietor of a pub, but she was not near as heavy as Lavender. Ginny thought she and Hanna were probably about the same, fat but not obese like Lavender.

Hermione and Angelina, her sisters-in-law, were heavier mostly in the hips, with modest stomachs, looking very much like middle-aged women. The Patil twins were the same, middle-aged heavier but not fat.

Susan Bones was still fit. Cho Chang was still fit, still looked very much like her action figure, although her black hair was beginning to show a little gray. Ginny regretted not befriending Cho earlier. As you aged you saw, at least if you paid attention, that other people had their problems and troubles. After two young men kissed her and then were killed, Cho had panicked at the thought of marrying anyone in the Ministry. Her wizard husband and his family were landlords, and Cho would joke that the only thing Ed Koizumi, her husband, fought was balky drains. Their oldest daughter was in the process of becoming a boy, something that Cho only reluctantly accepted.

Charlie was gay, and living with his partner until Stribog Romanoff was killed by a dragon. Magi were usually more accepting of non-traditional sexual orientation, but not always. Cho was handling Chloe becoming Charles, but it was not easy for her.

Harry counted on Cho leading raids, something she had done successfully for years, mostly because she was a terrified Ravenclaw that went over every detail of every potential risk in every raid. It worried both Harry and Cho, however, that there would come a time when their luck would run out and someone would be seriously hurt or killed. Since becoming more friendly with Cho, the danger in Cho's job worried Ginny as well.

Marietta Edgecombe did not have an action figure, and Ginny had no idea where she was. Ginny was glad that Marietta had disappeared. She had not used her Bat Bogey Hex in years, but Ginny knew that she was not as nice as Harry, and didn't forgive as easily. If she had to write something about Marietta, Ginny would probably write a Howler.

Ginny sighed. It wasn't just the females that looked older. Harry was beginning to get a little gray around the temples. His Auror training kept him fit and thin, but seeing him in a bathing costume, or naked, and his scars were obvious. The lightning shaped scar on his chest was large, and the absence of any chest hair on that wide jagged line made the scar even more noticeable.

Actually, right after the battle Harry, Ron and Hermione were thinner and more, Ginny did not know how to put it, but drawn out, used up, frazzled more than the figures showed. Fleur had let Ginny know that when she first saw Harry, Ron and Hermione, when Dobby brought them to Shell Cottage, they were not just thin but emaciated.

Ron had a pot belly now, and had to watch what he ate. Poetic justice for scarfing up all the leftovers when they were growing up. He also had a small bald spot, although he wore his hair long and it was seldom noticeable.

Neville's figure did not show all his scars either. He had significantly more scars than she did, including noticeable scars on his face and arms. Ginny knew that the students at Hogwarts talked about Neville being a hero, and he was often called The Snakeslayer. He wasn't obese like old Professor Slughorn, or even as heavy as young Professor Slughorn, but he was a long way from being thin.

Dean Thomas was middle age heavy. Actually, Ginny thought, a lot of middle aged Wizards put on weight around the middle, unlike the women who seemed to put on weight on their hips. Men with little hips and big bellies looked, she thought, silly. Ernie Macmillan was heavy as well, although he wore expensive clothes that hid at least some of the extra weight.

Lee Jordan was one of those annoying people who never seemed to gain weight. He was usually traveling for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and Ginny felt sorry for his wife.

Seamus Finnigan was still an Auror, and because of the exercise program that Aurors were expected to follow, he was still thin and in good physical condition.

Ginny had not seen Terry Boot or Zacharias Smith recently. She tried to remember if she saw either of them at the twentieth anniversary of The Battle of Hogwarts. She thought she might have, but she could not remember what they looked like.

Well, Ginny thought, we are all getting older. And she laughed to herself, 'well we did run up and down stairs every day all day at Hogwarts, of course we would have been in better shape.' Besides, hadn't Harry affirmed that he loved her now the way she was. She shook her head as she remembered. She had been looking at herself in the mirror, being critical of course when Harry had come up behind her and began nibbling on… well needless to say, Harry was a bit late to work this morning.

* * *

"Mistress Ginny will be home in about an hour," Mabel, the house elf, stated, as Harry came through the Closet. Magical Closets were gradually replacing the Floo network, using the same green powder but a much cleaner and more automated type of magic. Harry had them install a closet in between twelve and thirteen Grimmauld Place, with a door to Ron and Hermione's house and another that opened to his house. Charlie could not take his wheelchair through the Floo, but he could take it through the Closet Network, so when Charlie was badly injured in the accident that killed his partner, they installed a Magical Closet in the New Burrow, and several other places besides. The Closet Network was not interconnected to the Floo network, but the Closet network was gradually expanding.

"Hello, Mabel," Harry sprightly greeted their house elf. "Where are Ginny and Minerva?"

Mable replied, "Mistress Ginny is working. She told me she should be finished by six. Mistress Minerva is with her grandmum."

"Thank you, Mabel," Harry responded. "Will you text Ginny, please, and tell her that I will pick up Minerva?"

Harry waited for an answer, so Mabel replied, "Yes, Master Harry. Mabel always does as she is told." Harry took the closet to The New Burrow.

* * *

'Will you, please,' Mabel fumed to herself. One was not to ask a house elf. One were charmed to obey. It was an insult asking, implying that maybe she could and would disobey.

Mabel gingerly removed the hated instrument out of the pocket in her rented dress where she was required to carry it. She placed the despised mobile on the table, scowling at it. She gingerly pushed a couple of buttons on the terrible Muggle contraption, waiting for it to zap her. "Text Mistress Ginny Potter," she told the dastardly device. It answered back in a horrible mechanical voice, " _Text Mistress Ginny Potter."_ The mechanical voice caused her to wince, it hurt her ears.

The text screen came up, along with a lock plank, or was it a lock board, or something with letters in little boxes. Mabel could scream. Praise Merlin they had not made her learn that quirky lock board thing. "Master Harry Potter is picking up Mistress Minerva Potter," Mabel declared slowly and loudly. The awful thing answered, " _Master Harry Potter is picking up Mistress Minerva Potter."_

"Send," Mabel yelled. " _Sending the text message,"_ the ghastly gadget intoned.

Mabel picked up the perverted puck between two fingers and put it back into the pocket of the rented dress, the stupid dress she was required to wear as a condition of EMPLOYMENT. Mabel was NOT employed. She was an honest house elf. No subversive pay for her. While the clothes were more comfortable and practical, it wasn't _traditional_.

Not much in the Potter house was traditional. The kitchen was filled with Appliances. APPLIANCES! At least most of them were Whirlpool for Wizards appliances, but they worked with electric sisity as well as magic. The ice maker was a MUGGLE gadget! The whole house was filled with mixed Muggle and magical things.

Her own grandson Dobedo was PAID. She was so ashamed. He had even qualified as an Auror. At least he was Harry's Elf, the youngsters were too arrogant to call themselves house elves. His mate was the worst. Harriet Tubman, a name the Chinese Elf chose herself, was the manager of the Sentient Beings and Non-traditional Relationships division of the Ministry. Technically she was acting manager at two-thirds pay, but since Hermione had become Assistant Minister of Magic Harriet was running the department. No house elf should have witches and wizards and other beings working for them.

Boggarts. This was not the way things were supposed to be.

Even worse, she was proud of Dobedo, and Harriet, and their children. She knew that being proud of them was subversive and wrong, and she should punish herself for being proud of them. Harry had strictly forbad any of the Potter/Weasley house elves, or Elves, from punishing themselves. Kreacher, before he died, had formalized the rules against self-punishment, proclaiming it in Elfish as well as in English. Boggarts.

Mabel waved her hands and clothes moved out of the stupid Whirlpool for Wizards clothes dryer and folded themselves. She waved her hands again moving another load of clothes from the washer to the dryer. She levitated the folded clothes upstairs to their proper rooms and put them away.

Humpf, Mabel thought as she started on dinner, using the Whirlpool for Wizard appliances in the kitchen. She turned the gas past the nasty electric sisity starter that went SNAP SNAP SNAP. She started the fire with magic, like any self-respecting house elf.

Boggarts. She was not raised to be this way.

2019


	10. Ch 10 Excrement

APEC Ch 10 Excrement

On November thirty, Friday, Harry walked to his office. Because of all the changes that Harry and others had been making to the Ministry, it was time for some major remodeling. Harry and his father-in-law's jobs were the same, but the new offices were going to make managing the Department of Magical Law Enforcement easier.

Harry nodded to Carol, Arthur Weasley's administrative assistant. She was an older Department of Magical Law Enforcement employee who had been on the run during the reign of Tom Riddle because she was born to Muggle parents. She handled administrative tasks, but was not part of the command structure. The larger office of the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Arthur Weasley, was directly ahead, to the left of his office. Since Magi could live as much as twice as long as Muggles, they usually did not retire until they were well past ninety, and Arthur was planning on staying on as head for a number of years.

On the right was the office of Dennis Creevey. Dennis was formally the Assistant Head Auror, although he also functioned as the assistant head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Harry thought as he saw Dennis's office that formal titles did not really convey the informal power structure. Dennis was as much his and Arthur's assistant and heir apparent as he could be, and wielded far more power than many people realized. Dennis and the department heads, both of the Aurors and of the other departments, really ran the Department of Magical Law Enforcement on a day to day basis, Harry and Arthur were involved in every major decision, but more of their focus was on affairs external to the department. Harry, of course, had duties in Switzerland and worldwide as well.

Harry's office was as big as that of his father-in-law, with far more Muggle and Magical/Muggle technology than that of Arthur. Hermione had explained formal and informal hierarchies shortly after they started at the Ministry. Harry did not need nor want a bigger title or office. He was one of the most powerful and influential Magi in the world, something he accepted but did not lust after. Being Head Auror, with the excellent staff that he and his father-in-law had surrounded themselves with, was working well.

There were several conference rooms on the outside wall as well. Right outside of Harry and Dennis's office were the desks of several administrative assistants, including one for Dennis's wife Mary Lou. Someone staffed one of these desks twenty-four hours a day, three-hundred sixty-five days a year.

Cho Chang, as one of the shift supervisors, sat at a cubical across the hallway from the offices, where she and the other shift supervisors could see into all of the offices unless the windows were darkened. Harry saw her standing at the doorway to her office as he approached his new office. "Hello, Cho," Harry chimed. "Here because of third shift duties, or training? I don't think there is a raid being planned."

"I'm covering for one of the weekend Magi, Harry," Cho answered. "I have a training exercise scheduled for next week, but I'm going to take it easy the rest of this week."

"Your third shift staff will actually go a day or two without seeing you, at least for a few minutes?" Harry kidded. "You don't have to prove yourself."

Cho sighed. "I guess I'm still a Ravenclaw trying to get excellent marks."

Harry and Cho found it easier to exchange a little friendly banter since Ginny and Cho had made peace just before the twentieth anniversary of The Battle of Hogwarts.

Harry spent the morning rearranged his new office until he was satisfied, and then looked at the daily reports. The most pressing issue was also the most vexing, the basilisk at Hogwarts. He lunched with some of the staff, and then announced, "I am going over to Angelina's Angel Armor to arrange for glasses for the Hogwarts students, and for a day to treat glasses of students that wear them."

A number of the Aurors and other employees of The Department of Magical Law Enforcement had children or grandchildren at Hogwarts, several with great-grandchildren and a few with great-great-grandchildren. When living to one-hundred and twenty-five was not unusual, and one-hundred and fifty not unheard of, the number of your descendants could become large even with relatively small families. Harry promised several Magi that he would make sure they purchased enough of the magical glasses for their descendants.

Harry took the Floo to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. One of the newer employees was muttering at a well shielded computer. "I'm having problems with the Muggle credit card reader," she grumbled when Harry came over to greet her. "It is close to Christmas, and we have plenty of Muggle parents that shop with credit cards. Gringotts can change Muggle money into Galleons, but there are parents who do not want to carry Galleons around, and some of them do not want to carry many Pounds around either."

Harry left the Magical/Muggle IT specialist to her problems, and walked next door to Angelina's Angel Armor, going through the door that would only open if you possessed a valid Department of Magical Law Enforcement identification. As long as your department was logged into the magic, it did not matter where in the world you came from.

Angelina looked up and motion Harry over, asking, "Who is paying for all of these glasses, Harry? I've ordered a thousand, and they should be here the end of the week. I can have enough specialists at Hogwarts Saturday December eight, a week from tomorrow, to treat students' and professors' glasses, but this whole project is expensive."

"I think the money will come out of the school budget, since it is a school problem," Harry admitted. "Minerva and I want to have it come out of the school budget since the problem was caused by what Tom Riddle did when he was at Hogwarts. Since the Battle of Hogwarts, the school's endowment has grown substantially, and not just from my money, and they can afford it."

Angelina admitted, "I just want Roxanne and the cousins safe. While I don't care, really, Ron still insists on knowing the margins on every product. I do not think he will ever get over being poor."

Harry knew that the Weasley-Granger family was prosperous. Hermione never had to worry about buying more books, and Ron had a few toys himself, but Ron would probably never feel comfortable financially. He still battled with his old insecurities, but he was getting better.

Saturday December first Albus and Scorpius ate breakfast at the Slytherin table. Cassie Starkey sat down next to Scorpius, and asked, "What are you going to be doing today, Scorpius?"

Scorpius answered, "Rose and I are going to be working on a project this morning."

Scorpius looked over to Albus, who told him, "I have Quidditch practice this morning. This afternoon I want to talk to Myrtle Warren, and then there are some areas on the grounds of the castle we have never mapped, and I want to go over there."

Albus looked right at Cassie, letting her know, "Mapping is a four-person job."

"You have your own little clique," Cassie snapped at Albus. She then crooned at Scorpius, leaning on his shoulder, "I would love to come with you! You are such an interesting person, and good student. Please!"

Albus shook his head 'no.'

"We really need to concentrate when we make maps, and we have an area that is causing us problems," Scorpius responded, removing his arm from her grasp. "I will see you back in the dorm tonight."

Cassie sat right next to Scorpius, scowling at the pair, who ignored her through the rest of breakfast.

After lunch Rose and Cleo came over to the Slytherin table. Albus wasted no time in suggesting projects for this Saturday afternoon. "I would like to visit Myrtle Warren again, and then there is an area of the Hogwarts grounds we have never mapped. I think it contains the water and sewage treatment plant. Since Myrtle lives in the plumbing, perhaps she knows something about that area of Hogwarts."

Cleo went into Myrtle's bathroom first, yelling, "Is anyone here, other than Myrtle?"

One of the older students replied, "YES!"

Cleo waited until the older girl came out of one of the bathroom stalls. After the girl was gone, she indicated that Albus and Scorpius could come in.

Myrtle was sitting on a sink, sniggering. "You know, Albus, Scorpius, one of these days a gaggle of girls is going to rush into the bathroom needing to use the loo, and you two are going to be in a shitload of trouble."

"Where else could we meet?" Albus inquired.

"I think I would rather see you get into trouble," Myrtle joked.

"You saw TR Hadley go into the Chamber of Secrets several times," Albus theorized. "Do you know how many times, and how long did he spend there?"

"Hours at a time," Myrtle replied. "I am not sure how often. He would insult me, and I'm not sure if he just wanted to make me go away because he is mean, or he went into the Chamber each time." She gave a small sob, her lower lip jutting out and nodding emphatically.

"What do you know about the water and sewer plants?" Albus asked.

"The water comes from a couple of wells," she replied as she picked at a spot on her chin. "The water goes up to a couple of reservoirs on top of two of the towers. The sewage was just dumped into the ocean when I first came to Hogwarts, but there seemed to be some fuss with the Muggle government and Hogwarts had to put in something.

"I never go there. Bowman Flint is the caretaker. I know he has to maintain the plant, and it is a dirty, nasty job. I think he maintains the water system as well."

"We have never mapped that part of Hogwarts," Albus told Myrtle. "We are going over there now. You are welcome to come with us."

"You are our water expert, Myrtle," Cleo suggested. "Come with us. The fresh air would do you good."

"No kind of air does me any good anymore," Myrtle groused with a pout. "I cannot even take off my clothes to take a bath. If I could, maybe I could take off my clothes and boys would come into my bathroom to look. I have seen boys and girls naked, taking baths. Not that it does me any good. It is not much fun being a ghost."

The boys giggled, but Rose glared at Myrtle, scolding her, "That is not funny, and it is not proper, and I think you could and should get into a world of trouble if you did anything like that!"

Myrtle just smirked as she came along with the four as they left the castle and took a seldom used path on the least used side of the castle, into what was a little valley. In the valley was a building, with several doors, and next to the building smelly piles of what looked like fertilizer or dirt. On a rise above the building was a modest cottage, and sitting on the porch was an older and very unpleasant looking wizard.

Albus brought out his latest map. As he thought, the sewage treatment plant was just off the edge of the map, so he brought out a new piece of treated parchment. He fixed the new piece of parchment to the proper edge of the existing map, and started to extend the map.

The unpleasant looking wizard jumped up, stormed over to where the students were, and yelled, "What in Merlin's crap do you think you are doing?" The wizard wore a short, mostly gray beard that was not particularly well trimmed, and had messy hair about as long as his beard. He was dressed in a shirt and trousers instead of robes, but the style of the clothes suggested the sixteenth century more than the twenty-first century. He looked both unhappy and nervous.

Cleo looked over at the sewage plant and started to giggle. "I thought it was the students crap, not Merlin's."

"It is probably a shitty job," Albus agreed.

"Merlin blasted Muggles and their vital mental rules!" Bowman Flint railed. "I don't like people, and I do not want snotty nose little students mucking around my domain. What the boggards do you think you are doing?"

"Mapping Hogwarts," Albus explained to the man. "My grandfather and his friends made a map of Hogwarts, and my father, my friends and I have been asked to extend it. Professor McGonagall knows about it."

"You are Albus Potter," Bowman observed. "You and your little group of trouble makers. Stay away from my area."

"What do you have to hide?" Albus asked. "Is there dragon dung mixed in with this?"

"It is bad enough that they send all this human crap down here," Bowman railed. "I also have to neutralize all the potions that get washed down here. At the Tri-Wizard Tournament I did have to deal with dragon dung.

"GO. GET OUT OF HERE!" He began to look a bit wilder in the eyes, and the students thought it would be a good idea to leave without completing the mapping. There was something about the wizard that suggested Bowman was having trouble controlling his temper.

"I am going to ask Professor McGonagall about this," Albus mused. "Something doesn't smell right about this."

"It does smell awful down there," Rose giggled. "What do you expect shit to smell like?"

Myrtle commented, "At least as a ghost I did not smell anything. I don't think Bowman Flint even saw me. Too sunny out."

Cleo had a pensive look on her face. "I think Albus is right, though. I think we need to map that area. I don't know why, but I don't trust Bowman Flint. I don't like the way he looked at me. I would not trust him."

Sunday morning after breakfast Albus, Scorpius and Rose approached Professor McGonagall. Cleo was busy with Louis Weasley and Mary Middy with the perfume business.

Albus told the headmistress, "We went down to the sewage treatment plant yesterday, because that is one part of Hogwarts we have never mapped. Bowman Flint did not want us to be there."

"Why do you want to map that area?" Professor McGonagall asked, puzzled.

"Could someone sneak into Hogwarts through that area?" Albus asked. "I have been tracing the boundaries of all the magic that protects the castle and grounds, and there seems to be a gap around the sewage treatment plant."

"There is a path that Mr. Flint takes to go into Hogsmeade to buy supplies," the professor mused. "I inherited him when I became headmistress. I have been here long enough that I remember when we had to put in the sewage plant. I think that Dumbledore hired Mr. Flint as part of some sort of agreement that kept him out of Azkaban, but I do not know the whole story. Please stay away from him and do not say anything to anyone until I find out more."

"Yes, Professor," Albus answered. Rose and Scorpius nodded in agreement.

Minerva McGonagall went back to her office and looked at her Magical/Muggle Mobile, still amazed at the magic of this device. 'I had better call Harry before I forget,' she thought.

Harry was just finishing up some paperwork when his phone rang. He looked and saw "Minerva McGonagall" pop up on his mobile. "Greetings, Minerva," he answered. "Does Ginny have to write a howler, or are the children still being good?"

Minerva laughed. "They have just given me a crappy problem, and I thought you could help," she kidded.

"Language, Minerva," Harry gasped in mock dismay.

,

"It is about the Hogwarts sewage treatment plant," Minerva explained.

"No shit, it is a crappy problem," Harry exclaimed, causing both to laugh at the silly joke.

Calming down, Minerva explained, "We may have a problem, Harry. The caretaker of the sewage treatment plant is Bowman Flint. He is the first and only wizard we have had since we had to put in the plant. Muggles noticed sewage going into the ocean, and started to investigate, during Dumbledore's tenure as head. He had the sewage treatment plant put in. Bowman Flint was hired in some sort of deal that, I think, kept him out of Azkaban. I don't know if I have ever met the man. I know we pay him, since I see his name on the payroll. I have talked to Hagrid about him, and Hagrid suggested that we keep everyone away from him.

"He occasionally gets drunk and Rodger Davis has to bring him home.

"Albus and his friends do not trust him, and I think it might be a good idea to find out more about him."

"I will do that," Harry agreed. He made some notes in a little book he kept with him at all times, to remind him to put someone on that job in the morning.

Monday morning Harry called Rodger Davis at the Hog's Head. "What do you know about Bowman Flint," Harry asked the proprietor of the Inn, and explained a bit of what he information was looking for.

"I do not know any of his history, Harry," Rodger admitted. "He comes in once or twice a month to meet with the oldest of the two prostitutes that use our Inn. You and I have talked about them, how it is better to know what is going on. There is nothing particularly suspicious about Bowman paying for sex.

"However, November of last year we had a new witch start to show up. She meets with Bowman alone, but no one else. She is not from Great Britain, and I cannot place her accent or looks. I do have photographs of her. They are grainy Muggle photographs from the security system that Robrecht VanDer Raaltee put in for us, well shielded from magic, and since they are basically a Muggle video camera system magic doesn't shield against them."

"I would like to see them," Harry acknowledged.

"Have Ron come in for a drink, and I will slip him a CD. Robrecht says that since CD's are totally mechanical, just little pits on a disk, Magi will probably be using them long after the Muggles go totally electronic."

Harry didn't think this Bowman Flint had anything to do with the basilisk. It was beginning to look like Albus was just as much of a trouble magnet as he was when he was a student., Somehow Harry felt this Flint character was trouble.

2019


	11. Ch 11 Magical Glasses

Ch 11 Magical Glasses

Friday afternoon December seventh Harry met with Minerva to talk about the basilisk, and about the glasses that would protect you from the stare of a basilisk. He then ate dinner, sitting at the staff table in the Great Hall. As dinner started, Minerva announced, "At the end of Dinner Mr. Potter will have a very important announcement."

As dinner was coming to a close, Harry arose to address the students. "We are reasonably sure there is a basilisk alive in and around Hogwarts," he started. "It has killed animals and two centaurs. The stare of the basilisk is what killed Myrtle Warren, Moaning Myrtle, and we do not want any of you to be killed by the basilisk. Tomorrow I will be here in the Great Hall at 8:00 AM with glasses that will protect you from the basilisk stare. If you already wear glasses, we will have people who can charm your own glasses to protect you.

"If you have any idea where the basilisk is, or how we may get to where it is, please let us know. We think it may be in the Chamber of Secrets. The way I entered the Chamber of Secrets is blocked, but we feel there is probably another way in.

"Even if you are wearing the glasses, a basilisk is a very dangerous creature. It can kill you with its venom, or squeeze you to death. I do not want any of you going after the basilisk on your own."

After Harry sat down, Albus caught his father's eyes, and Harry nodded, mouthing, "I will see you after dinner." After dinner he stood up and walked over to Albus, and Albus and Scorpius rose to great him. Rose and Cleo walked over to meet them as well.

"Dad," Albus started in with, "We think the Chamber of Secrets is in the direction of the lake, maybe close to the Slytherin dorm or at least somewhere in that direction. We, Cleo, Rose, Scorpius and I, have been trying to map all the areas under Hogwarts, so the Elves can expand their area. They want more private bedrooms, and many more Elves are coming to Hogwarts to be educated. But we cannot map or get to the areas between the current basements and the lake. There is not anything we can see there, but it seems like our attempts to map are being hindered."

"I can feel resistance, Mr. Potter," Cleo added. "When we try to map the Slytherin Dorm and the Elf area and what is between them I can feel a push back something."

"I don't have an answer for you," Harry replied with a puzzled frown. "Please wear the special glasses all the time. I am also going to bring Fawkes, just in case something goes very wrong. I take him with me when we are going on raids, but otherwise he can stay with Albus."

"I think that is a good idea," Albus agreed. "Thank you."

"I want you to map the sewage treatment plant and grounds, Albus," Harry told the group. "Just wait for me to call you before you go over there. I want to make sure Bowman Flint is not going to be home before you go there."

"I think he knew who we were," Cleo volunteered. "Not just Albus, but all of us. I really do not like the way he looked at me, like … like I was a possession that he needed to do something to. Not sexual, exactly, but it is like, a cold feeling like when a ghost passes through you." She gave a small shiver of revulsion.

"Thank you for telling me this, Cleo," Harry responded. "I don't trust the man either."

Saturday December eight Harry Potter, Angelica Weasley and a team of Magi held shop in the Great Hall, fitting glasses to all the students who wanted them, and treating glasses with special spells for the students who wore classes. The also provided special invisible side shields for glasses so you would not accidently look at the basilisk directly and not through your glasses.

All of the Slytherin students accepted After much conferring between the people who could make the magic glasses, one of them told an assembled group of ghosts, "We have no idea how to make ghost glasses."

Cleo was listening to the conversations. She thought out loud, looking at Albus, "Well, you just have to use that magical … but you could not hold it on. Maybe … no that would not work either. That is a really hard problem." She started muttering to herself as she worked on the puzzle in her mind, but wasn't able to come up with a solution.

December eleventh Harry received a visit from Dan VanLente of the International Aurors. "Thank you for the photograph. We know that witch," Dan said as soon as the door to Harry's office was closed and they sat in the chairs around a small table. "She is one of Jezebel's witches. She acts as a messenger, and sometimes as an enforcer. We really do not want Jezebel to know that we know who this witch is. I would give you a name, but she uses a different alias wherever she goes."

the glasses, not without some grumbling. Even Tom Riddle Hadley insisted that everyone in Slytherin should wear the glasses at all the time, and keep them close when they were sleeping.

Most of the other students accepted the glasses as well, although there were a few who refused to wear them.

Myrtle Warren asked, "Is there any way you can make glasses for us ghosts?"

"The mapping program usually gives the proper name, no matter what name someone is using," Harry mused. "Would that help you?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Dan concluded. "I do wonder why she is meeting with this sewage treatment guy. I would make sure he cannot let her into Hogwarts."

"There is a back way he uses," Harry told Dan, "but only Flint can use it. We had to modify it so Rodger Davis from the Hog's Head Inn could use it to bring Flint back home when he gets too drunk. Before the Davis family owned the Hog's Head, Alberforth would bring Flint back when he was too drunk."

Harry and Dan spent a couple of hours going over all that they knew about Bowman Flint and the witch that worked for Jezebel. The meeting worried both of them.

Dan emphasized that any indication that Harry or anyone else knew who the witch was, or that she was connected to Jezebel, could jeopardize ongoing investigations, and even compromise the safety of spies, including Teddy Lupin, who were on Jezebel's Island.

Thursday December thirteenth Ginny received a call on her mobile from Minerva McGonagall. "Ginny, one of the people meeting with the students Saturday evening for religious services wants to talk to you. Sarah Sloan and her husband are rabbis, and they are explaining Jewish beliefs to the students and working with four of our students that are practicing Jews.

"Sarah has talked to Cleo, and she and I have talked about Cleo, and now she wants to talk to you."

"I am free this afternoon," Ginny replied. "I will tell Mabel, our house elf, to let her in."

"I will have her take the Floo from my office," Minerva agreed.

"Mable, come here please," Ginny exclaimed.

"I have a visitor coming this afternoon by Floo, Sarah Sloan," Ginny told the little elf when she popped into the kitchen. "Please let her in and show her up to my office. Baby Minerva and I will be up there."

"Mable always does as she is told," the little elf muttered after she popped away.

Ginny went up to her office to work on her weekly Quidditch column. Her schedule was much freer during the Quidditch off season, but she still tried to write a weekly column for the Prophet. Roughly half an hour later Sarah knocked on the door, and Ginny called, "Come in."

"I'm Sarah Sloan, Ginny," Sarah greeted her. After a few moments, Mable appeared with a tea set and set it down before quickly popping away. "You have a house elf? That little elf made it very clear that she was a house elf, not an Elf, not an employee. I find it somewhat astounding that you have such a subservient being serving you." Sarah wasn't sure if she should be astonished, amused or alarmed.

Ginny laughed. "Hermione Granger-Weasley owns two Elves. One is Harriet Tubman P/W, the Elf who is an acting department head at the Ministry, and manages Magi and other beings in the office. Officially she is Hermione's Elf, but the reality is that she is one of the most independent creatures I have ever met.

"The other Elf Hermione owns is Winky, the most subservient house elf you will ever meet. Hermione says owning Winky helped her understand house elves, which is good, but owning Winky also frustrates her.

"Actually those Elves and others are all owned by the Potter/Weasley family; the ownership is intentionally messy. I hope you do not want to talk to me about Elves and house elves and DNA and all the things Albus and Rose, Hermione and Harriet, and hundreds of other people are working on. All I know for sure is that it is a whole lot more complicated than just giving Elves their freedom."

"No, I was surprised by the elf and her… comments. I just want to talk about Cleopatra," Sarah assured Ginny.

Ginny blinked in surprise and looked at Sarah, trying to read her. "Why?" she wondered aloud.

"Well there is no way to ask any other way than just asking, so… Just how powerful is she?" Sarah asked grimacing at being so blunt.

"Is there a reason why you are asking?" Ginny countered, trying to figure out what Sarah was asking, and why Sarah was asking it.

"My husband David and I have been married twenty-five years, and I have never had a baby. We have never been able to figure out why. Then I heard from Sibylla Papadopoulis that Cleo had prayed for her, and now Sibylla is pregnant. So I asked Cleopatra to pray for me, and she had Albus help, and they prayed, and now I am pregnant. Is that some special gift of hers?"

Ginny had heard about Sibylla's pregnancy, and Cleopatra's potential part in helping Sibylla become pregnant.

"I wish I could tell you something," Ginny pensively remarked. "Is there a problem?"

"Did you have another baby because of Cleo?" Sarah asked, looking at Minerva in the cot by Ginny's side.

"No," Ginny remembered with a laugh as she too looked at Minerva. "I was thinking I was not ready to have all my children at Hogwarts when Lily left for school. Lily goes next September. I never thought being a mother was that central to my identity, but I guess I am more like my mother than I thought. Cleo does make you think about having a baby, though."

"Judaism is a very paternalistic religion," Sarah mused. "Menstrual blood is a big thing, and pregnancy and childbirth. I became a rabbi partly to try and demonstrate that men and women are mostly alike. I'm having to rethink that. Pregnancy is a woman's thing, and Cleopatra is over the top female, and I find myself doubting my career choices and everything about my life." She ended with a frustrated sigh.

"I'm not sure why you are talking to me about this?" Ginny pondered, still trying to understand Sarah's question.

"You seem to have it all, have done it all," Sarah argued, listing off Ginny's many achievements. "You won the Order of Merlin First Class before you were an adult. You played Quidditch professionally, and then became a successful writer and a mother."

"I have the scars from all of it," Ginny sighed. "Physical scars from the fight against Tom Riddle and from my Quidditch career, and emotional scars from everything. I thought it took courage going into battle. I think it takes more courage to let your children go into battle."

"How powerful is Cleopatra?" Sarah asked again.

"I do not think there is an easy answer to that question," Ginny tried to explain. "In some ways she is extraordinarily powerful, but her power is not always under control. I do think she has some special powers and insight when it comes to reproduction. If you wanted to have a baby and are pregnant, I would just accept it."

"I am trying to thank God for the pregnancy, and not worry, but it is hard. Cleo prays, but unlike Albus and Rose, who are Christians, I don't know what Cleo is," Sarah pondered. "I'm not sure she knows."

"Don't ask me about religion, Sarah," Ginny grumbled. "Albus is a member of the Wizarding Christian Church, and Cleo goes to church with him, but I'm not a member. I go with Harry once in a while, but I just don't get it. So Harry calls me a pagan, and I tell him he has a savior complex, which I think he does."

"You and Harry fight?" Sarah wondered out loud, then blushed.

"Ron and Hermione fight," Ginny countered with a head shake. "Harry and I just give each other a hard time occasionally." Both women laughed at the joke and shared for almost an hour the woes of being a married woman to stubborn men.

When Sarah left Ginny looked at the calendar. She and Harry would go to the Christmas Ball tomorrow, and the next day, Saturday, the children would come home on the Hogwarts Express. All her children, including Cleopatra. Life was getting scarier, and more complicated. Not exactly Happily Ever After, not that she ever really believed in Happily Ever After. It wasn't that there were problems that bothered Ginny, it was that there were problems that she could not do anything to fix.

Cleopatra and Albus left their last class Friday, December fourteenth, hand in hand. Cleo indicated that she wanted to talk to Albus along, so they let Rose go to the Gryffindor common room and Scorpius go to the Slytherin common room. They waited in the hall for everyone else to leave before starting to talk. **Deb, good catch!**

"Is Scorpius going to the Christmas Ball with Cassie again?" Cleo asked.

"I would assume so," Al replied shrugging. "I saw them talking this morning. Is Rose going?"

"I do not know," Cleo replied and shook her head with a frustrated sigh. "She complains about boys and girls pairing up, but I think she is jealous of Cassie at the same time. I think she is just confused. Actually, lots of girls and boys are confused when they are our age. I think Scorpius is too.

"I don't think Rose is going to go to the Ball. She will probably just sit in the dorm and sulk."

"That's not good," Albus commented shaking his head at his cousin's antics.

"No, and I don't know what to do about it," Cleo sighed.

Albus gave her hand a squeeze in commiseration.

Friday afternoon December fourteenth Harry and Ginny went to Hogwarts to chaperon another Christmas Ball. James and Erica Lionheart were obviously a couple from the way they danced and interacted. Albus and Cleopatra did not do much dancing, and obviously had not started dancing lessons. They were a couple, however. Scorpius was dancing with Cassiopeia Starkey. Rose was not at the Ball. It was not unusual for some of the students to skip the ball, but Harry and Ginny noticed her absence. Ginny making a mental note to talk to Rose and possibly Hermione about it over the Holidays.

Harry convinced Ginny to dance a few times over the evening. Ginny had never regained her sense of balance since the head injury that ended her Quidditch career, so whenever she and Harry danced she had to hold on to Harry. Neither of them minded, and they had become rather good at dancing slow dances. They always sat out the faster dances.

On the train ride home Cassie insisted on sitting in the train compartment along with Scorpius, Rose, Albus and Cleopatra.

"Will I see you during Christmas Vacation," Cassiopeia asked.

"I do not think so," Scorpius replied with relief yet sadness in his voice. "Cleo and I usually spend part of Christmas at Potter's New Burrow, the vacation house the Potter and Granger-Weasley families have."

"What do your parents think about that?" Cassie wondered in surprise that the family would be separated.

"They are not very happy, but I don't care," Scorpius groused. "Grandmum insists we be allowed to go, and even spends some time over there with grandmum Weasley."

"Mrs. Weasley killed your aunt," Cassie protested. "How can they be friends?"

"From what I have been told, my Aunt Belliatrix was a horrible person. Grandmum's other sister, Mrs. Tonks, lives with Grandmum Weasley," Scorpius explained. "They are all nice people."

Cassie did not say much more during the train ride. Her presence did dampen the conversation between the other four.

As before, no one was allowed to leave through the pillar between platforms nine and ten. Almost everyone left through the Floo stations, although a few left through a newly installed Closet. A small smattering of Muggle born left through two passageways that led to distant offices. Harry and his team had made sure that there were **no** video cameras anywhere near where these two offices were located.

2019

Descendents


	12. Ch 12 A Goblin is Using a Wand at

Ch 12 **A Goblin is Using a Wand at Hogwarts**

 **I want to thank again my beta Deb, who has made significant improvements in this chapter.**

Dinner the night the children came home to Malfoy Manor was, as usual, a tense affair. Everyone, except Narcissa, pointedly ignored Cleo, although Great-grandmother Malfoy did look at her often, usually looking as though she was smelling something foul. Great-grandmother Black was obvious in her inability to even look pleasantly at Cleopatra, and Astoria was not much better.

Draco was looking over at Scorpius, and after taking a sip of his wine, slammed his glass down and snapped at his son, "Still not seeker on the Quidditch team? I was when I was at Hogwarts. I brought glory to the Malfoy name by my play."

Scorpius and Cleopatra looked at each other, and both stifled a laugh. James Potter, ever the student of Quidditch, had looked up the records of the school matches when his father was at Hogwarts, and had found out that Draco had only caught the snitch two times in five years of playing seeker. James tried to taunt Scorpius with that information when Scorpius was with Albus, Rose and Cleo, but Scorpius had just grinned at James.

"The team already has two good seekers, Albus Potter and Adel Brandt," Scorpius countered with a sigh, playing with the food on his plate. He knew that bringing up his father's Quidditch record would be a mistake. "I'm using some Saturday mornings to practice fighting with broadswords, with the goblin Thorin Oakenwand."

"What good will that do?" Draco scoffed. "Besides, you should not be friends with a goblin."

"It is good exercise," Scorpius explained. "It can also be handy in real close combat, or in getting through spells that are otherwise hard to counter. You put your wand in the handle of the sword, and the right sword magnifies your wand's power. It is like the staff that grandpa used, and that you now have. It helps make your spell more powerful."

"You will learn to be a true Malfoy yet," Draco threatened with a snarl.

Scorpius sighed. There was no way he wanted to be what his father considered a true Malfoy. The only person in his family who truly loved him without reservations and a whole list of expectations was grandmother Malfoy.

"You are taking lessons from a goblin?" Great-grandmum Malfoy complained, her hand elegantly placed on her chest, obviously mortified, before turning to her granddaughter-in-law. "Astoria, you need to have another child, so we can raise this one to be a true Malfoy."

"Not MY body," Astoria snapped, looking at Draco with daggers in her eyes. "I put up with all that once, and I'm not doing it again."

Draco sighed. Narcissa shook her head, sympathetic to Draco's frustration.

Scorpius had noticed that his parents usually sat at the opposite ends of the table, and avoided being physically close to each other. He thought about how Mr. and Mrs. Potter touched as often as they could. All of the Weasley families were touchers. Even Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey, the most conservative and reserved of the Weasley family, sat next to each other and were affectionate. Rose was rather cautious about touch, although she wanted to be the best of friends with him.

Grandmum Narcissa would hug him, unlike his parents.

Scorpius and Cleo looked at each other when the 'adults' began talking about 'adult things'. They could not wait to escape this unhappy house and spend time with the wild and loving Weasley family.

* * *

The Potter and Granger-Weasley families ate dinner together that first night the children were home.

Ginny announced, "You all need to put your things away and be ready to go to Potter's New Burrow tomorrow. Rose and Hugo, you too. I am going to be in charge of getting all five of you over. Dad works extra shifts until Christmas Eve, giving some of the Aurors with young families some time off, and Aunt Hermione, is going to do the same for some of her staff."

Harry added, looking at Hermione, "We will be spending as much time as we can with the family between Christmas and New Year." Hermione nodded. They like helping the younger co-workers but missed spending time with their families.

"Dad will work at the Wheezes, and Mum seldom takes time off unless she is forced to," Rose complained, stirring her noodles on her plate with an unhappy pout.

"I am not going to go into the office from Christmas day until the day after New Year's," Hermione promised.

"No, you will work from your office, or read, all week," Rose grumbled with a huff. Hermione did look embarrassed, but did not have a ready retort, mentally vowing to spend time with her daughter who clearly needed her mother for something.

"Are Erica and Bill Lionheart going to come over to fly?" James asked, hoping to break the tension between mother and daughter.

"I have been talking to Mrs. Lionheart, and they will be over next week," Ginny confirmed looking over at Harry with a significate stare. Then turned back to her eldest, "Why? Do you want to practice dancing?" Ginny smirked, teasing James a bit.

"James has figured out that Erica is a girl," Lilly snickered, elbowing Hugo who smirked at the squirming boy.

"Oh gross," Rose complained. "I'm not ready to have a boyfriend," she exclaimed loftily.

There was a period of awkward silence.

"When are Cleo and Scorpius coming over," Albus asked, hoping to break the tension a bit.

"We are working on that as well," Ginny informed everybody. "Mrs. Malfoy and I have been talking, but I do not have any firm times yet."

As dinner was finishing, Harry told his oldest, "James, your mother and I want to talk to you alone in the Library after dinner."

"What did you do, James, to get in trouble your first night home," Lilly laughed, poking James in the side. James just grinned. He didn't think he was in any great trouble.

Once they were in the Library, Harry closed the door and added a couple of privacy spells as he had seen Lilly sneaking towards the room.

"Sit down, James," Harry commanded his voice stern, James' back went straight as he sat down on the couch and looked at his father. "We are pleased with your school work. You have acceptable marks in all your classes, and are excelling in charms."

"Thank you," James cautiously replied. James could sense something was coming.

"Hudson Harrison tells us that you are very interested in the safety charms on the broom and the helmet and uniform you are wearing," Harry continued, Ginny leaned against a book shelf, her arms crossed as she stared worriedly at her son. "Mr. Harrison also says you are modifying the charms."

James nodded yes, worried about where this discussion was headed.

"You understand how dangerous Quidditch can be?" Harry stressed.

"Yes, dad," came the wary answer.

Ginny huffed and stormed up to her son, "I don't think you do understand," Ginny snapped. "See this knee!" Ginny pulled up her skirt, exposing a large nasty looking scar. "I was warned about playing in the game that demolished my knee. I would have lost my leg, but they put in a Muggle metal knee. To do it they had to take some bone out of my left leg, so instead of being five-foot-tall I'm now four-foot ten-inches.

"I played distracted in the game where I hurt my head. You father had just lost an Auror, and almost lost another one. I was busy with things other than Quidditch, and should have sat out that game, but Ginny Potter was too tough, too important a player, to sit out a game, so I played. I have not been able to fly since." She looked at her son and noticed his gaze was not really as intent as she liked and finally snapped at him. "JAMES, I don't think you are taking this seriously."

James Potter looked at the floor, suppressing a sigh. He really didn't want to hear this.

"Do you understand how sick Mr. Lionheart is?" Ginny continued, wanting to shake some sense into her son. "He was working at St. Mungo's when I first met him. He was a little spacy, with a poor memory, but he was functioning. Now he has advance dementia. I don't want you to end up like me, or like him!"

"Yes, mother," James sighed. He made sure that he never ran head first into things, unlike Mr. Lionheart. Close wasn't the same thing as running into things.

Harry continued, his tone growing hard, "I've talked to the matrons at Hogwarts, and you have been in the hospital wing with a couple of close calls, bruises, abrasions, James. Back off! You can be good and not play so close to the edge.

"There is one other issue. I have not told any of you children, but I've had to talk to Dementors over the years. They keep taunting me, telling me that I am going to see a child killed in front of me, and for nothing. Getting yourself killed trying to show off, or to win a Quidditch game, is getting killed for nothing as far as I am concerned. Your mother and I are worried about your safety."

James kept looking at the floor not wanting to meet either of his parent's gazes. They just didn't understand.

Harry yelled, "JAMES, look at me!"

James looked at his father, startled at his father raising his voice.

"Change those safety spells back or I swear I will take your broom away and forbid you from playing Quidditch."

James sighed. "Yes, father," he whispered, his voice toneless.

"Let me know when you have changed the spells back, James," Harry stressed, wanting to shake his son or somehow get their concern across to him.

"Yes, father."

"I am going to have Hudson Harrison check your broom before the next match," Harry warned his son, his eyes narrowing as he took in the blank look of his son.

"Yes, father."

Harry dismissed his son with a sigh, He knew that his son didn't understand the danger because, just like all boys at that age, they believed that they were immortal and nothing bad would happen.

James climbed the stairs up to his bedroom, went in, and slammed the door shut. He sat on his bed sulking. Maybe he had modified the spells, but he had not had a serious injury. Maybe a couple of close calls. He wasn't stupid, he thought. Close was exciting, and gave you the edge you needed. Boggarts.

He was going to have to be careful using the spells. He was going to have to be sneaky like Albus. Boggarts.

* * *

"I'm going to have Hudson Harrison check James broom before every game," Harry stressed, pulling a worried Ginny to him and kissing the top of her head. "He has been a good child, but I don't trust him when it comes to Quidditch."

"Thank you for talking to him," Ginny muttered, wrapping her arms around him and sighing. "I don't know if it will work, but we need to try."

"Do you think we got through to James?" Harry asked as they heard their son's door slam shut.

"No," Ginny grumbled. "He is as thick headed as his father."

"And as much a thrill seeker as his mother," Harry countered.

"Donna Lionheart told me, after they adopted Tabitha, that no good deed goes unpunished," Ginny sighed. "I am worried that we are going to begin paying for our good fortune."

"I do not want to just hide," Harry confessed.

"You could not live with yourself if you were not out trying to right the world's wrongs," Ginny argued. "You would be so bitchy I could not live with you either. That's just what I get for marrying a big hero with an even bigger target on his back."

"You were never much of a damsel in distress either," Harry laughed as he kissed her on the lips and pulled her down on the sofa next to him. "Your mum and I talked about "Happily Ever After," how you never wanted to be rescued by the handsome prince, but wanted to help the prince kill the dragon.

"Can you imagine, after defeating the wicked wizards, Harry and Ron, the handsome heroes …"

"Stop right there!" Ginny laughed. "Ron, handsome?"

"Rushed up to rescue their girlfriends, who were lolling on their beds."

"Lounging, Harry, painting our nails and eating chocolate." Ginny made a gagging motion while giggling.

"Ready to kill their boyfriends, who had locked then in the tower," Harry suggested.

"You would not have succeeded without the help of us females," Ginny insisted.

"Hermione still helps me," Harry admitted.

"It is not just fairy tales," Ginny grumbled. "They are still publishing books where the girl is helpless."

"And the hero is tall, dark, and handsome?" Harry asked.

"You are not tall, nor dark, but you are somewhat handsome, so I'll give you one out of three," Ginny smirked, poking him in the side.

"Well, you were never the helpless princess, so that's zero out of one," Harry kidded back. "No, you have always been beautiful, so that's one out of two."

Ginny smiled as she leaned her head on his shoulder. She relished in being competent, and able to keep up with the boys. Harry was right; she never was the helpless princess type.

* * *

Late Monday afternoon Scorpius sat in his bedroom trying to remember what he had done in the morning. He remembered breakfast, he thought, and then … He eventually went to Cleopatra's room.

Cleo asked Scorpius, "What were you doing with your father this morning and afternoon?"

Scorpius answered, "I don't remember. What time is it?" Looking over at the clock on her desk and blinking in surprise at how late it truly was. What in Merlin's name had he been doing all day?

"This is NOT good," Cleo exclaimed, looking at her adopted brother worriedly. "Your father told you to accompany him to his office, and no one here has seen either of you since."

Scorpius tried to remember, but even the fact that he had forgotten what had happened to him Monday was fading. By Tuesday he didn't even remember that much of Monday was missing. Cleo remembered, though, and it worried her.

* * *

Tuesday morning, December eighteenth, the headline in the Prophet read, " **A Goblin is Using a Wand at Hogwarts."** The article by Rita Skeeter went on to talk about Thorin Oakenwand, his large wand, and the Sword of Gryffindor that he seemed to now own and occasionally wear. The article also went into the wands of the Elves Galadriel and Luthen, paying special attention to the unique wand of Galadriel, the only wand in the world that looked like it was made of metal.

The article concluded, " _This writer thinks that the wands should be confiscated and returned to the position of witches and wizards who are authorized to carry them."_

That there were two Elves and a goblin attending classes at Hogwarts was not really a secret, but no one had publicized it either. From all the attention the article paid to wands, Harry was reasonably sure Olivia Ollivander was at least partly responsible for the article.

The article was picked up by magical newspapers and news shows around the world. There was an immediate outcry, with many Magi demanding the immediate surrender of the wands. Minerva McGonagall and Hermione were among many deluged with people demanding action.

* * *

Harry exited the private Floo connection inside his office just after 7:00 AM on Tuesday morning, unlocked his office door, and was immediately handed the Daily Prophet by Carol, one of the newer Aurors. He went back into his office and read the lead article. Then he looked out of his large window overlooking the general office area. Phone lines were starting to ring, and an unusually large number of memos were already flying around. Cho Chang looked in Harry's office window, and he went out his office door to meet her. She had a copy of the Daily Prophet in her hand.

"I'm due to leave at 8:00 AM, but I will stay a little longer, Harry," Cho volunteered. "You may need some extra help."

"It is not really Auror business," Harry protested.

"It is not legal for a goblin to carry a wand, in Britain or anywhere," Cho pointed out. "I do not know of any law about house elves, or Elves, or whatever they are or are becoming, but wands for elves is irregular at least. And you and your family are in as deep as merpeople are wet. The elves and goblin are part of the group that Albus and Rose are part of, the Magical and Elf Language Learners."

Groups of people were starting to converge on Harry's office.

"I will play administrative assistant and door guard until more of your staff shows up," Cho volunteered. "I worked the night shift, and really do need to be in bed before noon, but I will help you right now. You need it."

"Thank you, Cho. I believe you are correct," Harry acknowledged as he retreated into his office to take the first of many phone calls and Floo calls, and visits.

* * *

Albus wandered into the kitchen of Potter's New Burrow about seven-thirty in the morning. The telly was turned to the Wizard Broadcasting Network, and they were talking about an article in the Daily Prophet about Thorin's wand, and the wands that the Elves Galadriel and Luthen were using. Mabel handed Albus the Daily Prophet. He read Rita Skeeter's article with a scowl. He guessed that Professor Ollivander was behind the article. There was too much focus on wands in the article.

He wished Cleopatra was with him. There was something unique about both of their wands, and he thought the wands of Galadriel and Thorin. Albus thought there were books about wands in his Aunt Hermione's library. When Rose was awake he was going to suggest that they go over to her house at thirteen Grimmauld Place and see what they could find out about wands. That goblins were prohibited from using wands meant that at one time they did use them. What exactly was allowed and prohibited?

* * *

"What exactly is a wand? Much of the controversy hinges on the definition of a wand," Hermione was explaining to a rather large group of Magi in a large conference room at the Ministry of Magic. "A wand is an artifact usually made of wood with a magical core. It helps focus magic, and is a general purpose aid capable of helping with many different spells. Single purpose magical objects are not wands." She began pacing as pictures appeared on the walls of different types of wands used throughout history.

"All known wands have been turned into magical wands by wandmakers, always a husband and wife pair as far as we know, using two known wands. Wand-making wands can all trace their ancestry back to the first two wands." She looked back at the anxious group of Magi.

"Thorin insists that his wand does not fit our definition of a wand, because it was not made by any wand of the Magi. The wand makers in Switzerland think he may be right. There is evidence that some wand or something made Thorin's wand, but it was not made by any of our wands, so it does not meet the definition of a wand, technically. That is what they are arguing, in any case.

"In Switzerland they are also arguing that Elf wands were not made by the wands of the Magi. I didn't think there were any Elf wands." She continued a bit longer before taking questions.

"Some of the history of wands and wandmaking is in Switzerland," Hermione concluded after having to answer too many questions with "I do not know the answer to that." She tried to reassure the group with, "I will try to find answers to as many of your questions as I can."

Harry thought back to an early visit to Hong Kong and China, when he saw boxes of small Elf wands. He knew that Harriet and Dobedo each possessed one of these little wands. He did not volunteer any additional information, however. The situation was already complex enough.

After the meeting, Harry told Hermione, "We need to go to Switzerland, and take Albus and Cleopatra with us. They both have unique wands, and I want to talk to the wandmakers there. I do not trust the Ollivanders here, not after that article."

"I agree, Harry," Hermione responded. "Can you find out when Scorpius and Cleo are going to be visiting?"

"I will call Molly," Harry agreed.

* * *

Ginny was in the kitchen of The New Burrow with her mother Tuesday afternoon when Molly's mobile rang. She looked on as her mother nodded and acknowledged the conversation.

"We will have dinner ready for you and Harry at seven-thirty," Molly told the gadget. "It will be a simple dinner so you can go back to work." After a pause Molly acknowledged, "I understand. Rita's article really poked the dragon this time.

"Cleopatra and Scorpius should be here Wednesday, but I do not know when. Narcissa wants to come over as soon as possible, but the rest of that household is not really eager to have the children come."

* * *

Hermione walked into the library at thirteen Grimmauld Place to find Albus and Rose deep in research.

"Goblins have always used objects to help with magic," Rose told her mother, showing her to book she was reading. "They have made magical toys and weapons and all sorts of other things. The only thing forbidden to goblins now are general purpose wands."

Hermione quickly read the section and mused, "How important is the definition of a wand made by Magi wandmakers?"

Albus volunteered as he handed her his own book, "Very important! The language seems to have been carefully written. Gobbledygook versions of the agreement are painfully specific about how a forbidden wand is a wand made by witches and wizards."

"What do you know about Thorin's wand, and for that matter the wands that Galadriel and Luthen were using?" Hermione asked.

"I think the wandmakers in Switzerland can tell us a lot," Albus theorized. "I do not want to go over there until Cleo is with us. Her wand is also unique, and she can see things no one else can."

"Your father does not trust the Ollivanders here," Hermione grumbled, thinking it sad how far the Ollivanders were digging themselves into a pit of distrust with the Potter/Weasley clan. "I don't trust Professor Olivia Ollivander. I'm not sure about the others."

"I do not trust Ashley Ollivander," Albus remarked, agreeing with his Aunt. "She and her Aunt made Cleo and me, Thorin and Galadriel very nervous and concerned by questioning us about our wands. I would expect a wandmaker would be interested in wands, but I do not feel it is just curiosity."

"Keep doing your research, Rose, Albus," Hermione told the pair, kissing her daughter on the head and ruffling Albus' hair. "I should see you at dinner, 7:30 this afternoon at The New Burrow."

* * *

The whole family met for dinner at The New Burrow Tuesday night to discuss the day's events. Harry did volunteer, "I would not be surprised if magic and magic wands came from the forefathers of the Elves and Goblins, the High Elves. I know that the Ollivanders are not happy with the idea that Magi did not make the Elves, but that maybe High Elves made Magi."

* * *

Wednesday's article by Rita helpfully pointed out that Harry was the Regent in Switzerland, so he owned the two house elves. As Regent, a Swiss goblin was probably his subject as well. Harry and Hermione announced to their staffs at the Ministry of Magic that as soon as they could they were going to go to Switzerland. They did not tell anyone but Kingsley that they were taking Albus and Cleo, but many people guessed.

* * *

It was Wednesday, December nineteenth, after lunch, before Scorpius and Cleopatra were able to visit Potter's New Burrow.

"I insisted that I needed to play the organ for the Christmas Eve Mass," Cleo announced when they arrived, both finally relaxing for the first time since they had gotten off the train. "I think we fought about it from the time I brought it up until the moment we left. The great-grandmothers and Mr. Malfoy are all very much against religion and church."

"It almost makes me want to join a church just because my father is against it," Scorpius confessed. "You are supposed to love your mother and father, but they are not making it easy to love them."

Ginny told Narcissa and the children, "Harry is going to be here as soon as he can, and then we are all going to Switzerland. The whole issue of wands for Goblins and Elves has blown up. Everybody involved is dodging dragon fire over this. I do not know how many of your Magi and Elf Language Learners are going to be in Switzerland before Christmas, but your group is right in the middle of this."

Within half an hour of Cleo and Scorpius arriving at Potter's New Burrow, Harry came home from the Ministry with Kingsley and Cindy Base and her husband Henry (the Potter/Weasley publicist and photographer.) The group soon left for Switzerland taking Albus, Rose, Cleopatra and Scorpius to Switzerland. They were met by Gerhard Richter, still the Chief Wizard of Switzerland and the Regent (Harry's) personal representative. Gerhard immediately took them to the castle.

Waiting at the castle were the Regent's Elves. Since signing documents years ago, the large group of Elves attached to the ruling family had operated very independently, researching the history of Elves and goblins, and helping to manage the vast treasures of the world of the Magi stored in caves in Switzerland. You had John and Mary Rivendell, the Chief Elves, their daughter and her mate, Arwen and Elrond Lothlorien, and Arwen and Elrond's daughters and the Elves in the Magi and Elf Language Learners (MELL's) Galadriel and Luthien.

The goblin Thorin Oakenwand was also there, as well as his grandfather Zefenslot and a goblin assistant of some sort. Thorin's grandfather was the chief goblin at the Swiss headquarters of Gringotts. Zefenslot was generally regarded as the chief goblin, although no one was sure exactly how the goblins governed themselves. The assistant was introduced as goblin Bibliothekar.

"We are waiting for the chief Swiss wandmakers," Galadriel announced to the assembled group. A few minutes later a large man with graying blond hair and beard walked in along with a striking white haired elderly woman.

Gerhart greeted the couple. "Welcome, Aragorn, Elanor. I would like to introduce Harry Potter, his wife Ginny, Hermione Granger-Weasley, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and four of the students from England learning Elfish along with my grandchildren Adel and Hermann, Albus Potter, Rose Granger-Weasley, Cleopatra Smith and Scorpius Malfoy. You know the rest of us. Documenting what is going on are the house publicists for the Potter and Weasley families, Cindy and Henry Hudson.

"Aragorn and Elanor Zauberstabhersteller are the chief wandmakers in Switzerland. They are experts in the genealogy of wands. They have a reasonably complete genealogy of most of the more famous wands, and of all the known wandmaker wands. The origins of Galadriel and Thorin's wands are not known, and we do not know how the first wands were made."

Elanor looked at Galadriel and asked her, "Galadriel, where did your wand come from? We have no record of it."

Galadriel replied, "It is a long story, and a history that has been hidden from all of us. We are just beginning to recover out history. We will share what we know."

The assembled group moved to an area where they could sit comfortably, and waited for the Elves to speak.

2019


	13. Ch 13 Teasing Out The Origins of M

Ch 13 Teasing Out The Origins of Magic

The assembled group went down to a comfortable inner room on floor minus-seven of the huge castle. The castle had a large main floor at the same level as the plaza off the lowest main road that circled the valley of the Magi. There were two floors above the main floor, labelled floors one and two. There were ten floors below the main floor before the castle reached the level of the valley below. They were numbered "floor minus-one" to floor "minus-ten." Floors minus six to minus eight seemed to be Elf areas.

As they arrived at the room Hermione Granger-Weasley showed up, obviously out of breath.

The room was a modest sized, windowless room. It had stone floors, walls and ceiling. The walls were covered with paintings of the outside of the castle, and the paintings seemed to be the only thing giving light to the room. There was comfortable seating for both Elf and Magi, overstuffed leather chairs and couches. Everyone sat down and made themselves comfortable, except for Henry who was moving around the room taking photographs.

Cindy Base Hudson, looking over to make sure her dicta-quill was working properly, asked "Could you introduce yourselves, please. I know who most of you are, but I want to make sure I know who is at this meeting."

Harry started, gesturing to the two elves sitting together, "You know John and Mary, the head Elves here in the castle. Since signing contracts with me as Regent, they have taken surnames, and are now John and Mary Rivendell."

Harry turned to the Elves. Mary nodded and took over. "For most of the last two-thousand years we have been possessions of Magi or of Goblins If we needed any secondary identifier we just referred to the family we belonged to. Several Magi and Elves have encouraged us to adopt surnames, and we have. My daughter Arwen and her mate Elrond have adopted the surname Lothlorien. Our granddaughters are Galadriel and Luthien."

Mary turned back to Harry, who continued, nodding at people around the room who waved or nodded to Cindy. "You know Kingsley and Hermione. I think you have met Goblin Zefenslot, the chief goblin of Gringotts in Switzerland. The Swiss bank is generally acknowledged as the head bank of all the Goblin banks. He has an assistant here, Bibliothekar.

"I know you have met Gerhardt Richter, the head Magi of this valley."

"I work for the ruling family, Harry," Gerhardt reminded him.

Harry shook his head, and emphasized, "Gerhardt runs the valley.

"Finally we have the Swiss wandmakers Aragorn and Elanor Zauberstabhersteller."

"Thank you," Cindy said as she composed some notes. Harry noticed that she was also recording the meeting.

Mary Rivendell, the Elf, looked over at her mate before looking back at the room and started to speak. "We want Aragorn and Elanor to examine Galadriel's wand, then Thorin's. We then want them to examine the Elder Wand and the wand that Cleopatra is using. Wand lore is central to the story we are trying to tease out." The wands were pulled out and the Magi came forward.

The two wandmakers first examined Galadriel's wand. They were obviously confused. "I cannot tell who made this wand," Elanor mused, "or how it was made. In almost all wands, all that I have examined, you can get some idea about the parents of the wand, which wands and wandmakers made the wand. With an older wand you may not know the wandmaker, but even then you can get some idea of the age. This wand is ageless, not old although we know it is, nor young."

They then examined Thorin's wand. Elanor again was the one to speak. "It looks like this wand may have been made in part by Galadrieln's wand, but there is more going on here. Someone and something made this wand in addition to Galadriel's wand."

Cleopatra had been watching them closely, and asked, "Can you show me what you are doing?" The wandmakers motioned her closer and showed Cleo the spells they were using.

The wandmakers examined Albus's wand, the Elder Wand. Elanor nodded her head. "It looks like the Elder Wand was made by the wands of Galadriel and Thorin. We never knew how the first two wands were made. Do you know if the wand of the Pirate Witch Queen was also made by these wands?" He looked around the room and most people shook their heads, "I can guess it probably was."

Cleopatra took Albus' wand, and with Elanor's help began her own examination of the Elder Wand, along with the wands of the Elf and Goblin. "I agree," she pronounced after conferring with Aragon and Elanor. "The Elder Wand feels like a child of the other two wands, maybe even the oldest child or oldest male child."

They then examined Cleo's wand. Elanor announced, "This wand was made by Galadriel's wand and, I would guess, the mate to Albus's wand, the female first wand of the Magi."

Mary the Elf blinked in surprise at her, and asked, "Are you sure?"

Elanor confessed with a shrug, "We are not sure of anything. I am only giving you my best guess. Everything about Galadriel's wand is strange. Do you have any idea how it was made, or where it came from?"

The Elves looked at Arwen Lothlorien, and she began to speak. "We have no idea how Galadriel's wand was made, or even what it is made of. I will speak of where eventually, but first I need to tell a rather long story.

"When Tom Riddle killed the Rothschilds, John's parents were the chief house elves. A distant cousin of Gerhardt was in his position, but he was being trained to take over, even though he was a little young for the position. Goblin Zefenslot was, I understand, the next in line to be Chief Goblin at Gringotts."

Arwen looked over to Zefenslot, who nodded his head in agreement, before continuing, "All the above chief executives or lead people and their predecessors were faced with an unprecedented situation. Always before the rule passed from one family to another. Tom Riddle could not take the place of the Rothchild family, but he was clearly also the heir. The powers in Switzerland made sure Tom Riddle could never enter Switzerland again, and the International Council of Witches and Wizards tried to figure out how to deal with him.

"Meanwhile, the Elves of the Regent were free to do as they wished, as long as they maintained the castle. Maintaining the castle did not take much time, since no one was living there. There was a prophecy that the King and Queen to come would fill up the castle, and a small group of Elves has been refurbishing the castle, extending water and sewer throughout the castle so it has modern plumbing. Recently, after asking Harry and Albus, and with the encouragement of Cleopatra, we have even been adding electricity and internet wiring.

"Most of the extra time the Elves found themselves with was spent trying to read about our history. We went into the caves and tried to find the oldest documents, to see how we became house elves. Some of the documents are stored with very old documents of the Goblins, and we ended up with some Goblin help. We cannot get at the earliest documents, and some of what we have found is hard to read. We are still trying to translate all of the writing we found in China as well.

"When Harry Potter became the Regent we thought we would have to serve him and his family, but he ended up giving us even more freedom to continue with our research. We still have not been able to go all the way back, and we feel we are like people trying to recreate the Christian Bible without ever seeing a copy of it, just reading things that refer to it.

"I want to tell you about a couple of ways of looking at the origin of magic, and about our ancestors. As you will see, there is no agreement on the story, and we feel we have much still to learn.

"One thing we almost all agree on is that magic came from outside. We think there was a portal between Earth and some other world or place, and all the magical creatures with the extra Alpha and Omega genes came from there. That includes Elves and Goblins and all the creatures, sentient and otherwise, who share our genes.

"What was on the other side of that portal? There is where the disagreements start. Are you all familiar with the bible, and the story about the devil tempting Eve?"

Ginny jumped in with, "We are not all Christians, so could you explain?"

"Do you know the story of the Garden of Eden, and the Fall?" Arwen asked.

Everyone acknowledged at least some familiarity with the Bible story.

"Some of the writings imply that this other world was a world without the Fall. That Earth is in a fight between the fallen angel that was supposed to rule the world, the devil, and God, but in this other world the angel that rules the world under God is not a fallen angel, and that the original Proto-Elves or High-Elves did not fall into sin as a race. This does not mean that there was no free will, and some could still sin and rebel.

"Some writings suggest that the world was ruled by the females, and headed by a very powerful female, and that the world was not all that nice if you were a male. Other writings suggest that the world was only nice if you were as obedient as a house elf, and if you wanted any excitement, anything more, you would be disciplined or banished.

"There are writings suggest that our ancestors were caught here when the portal unexpectedly closed, and other writings suggest that our ancestors were banished here."

"Do you think that finding earlier writings will help us discover which story is real?" Hermione inquired.

"Probably not," Arwen suggested. "I would expect to find more than one story, and more than one way to interpreted what we do find."

"Nothing is ever simple," Hermione groused with a sigh.

"I agree," Arwen confirmed, laughing. "Elrond and I are the heads of a rather large group of Elves and Goblins who are reading all the older documents we can find, trying to tease out our history. It has not been a simple process.

"As near as we can gather, Magi came to Earth about five thousand years ago, maybe a little less. We were first in the mid-east, and gradually spread over all the world. There was a core group of High Elves and humans, Magi, and they created more Magi. We have no idea how the High Elves caused some of the humans to have magical genes, but they did, and they seemed to have put magic in almost all the races or groups of humans. About three thousand years ago it became apparent that humans were becoming more powerful, and dissent broke out among the High Elves and the Magi.

"The major break was not a one-time event, but seems to have occurred over about a five-hundred-year period two-thousand five-hundred to two-thousand years ago. After this there were house elves and goblins, with the house elves subject to Magi and to the goblins. Wars and dissent between the Magi and the goblins have continued. House elves becoming Elves is much more recent, really becoming prominent only in the last one-hundred years or so, although house elves have never been quite as subservient as some Magi think.

"We are recovering the original Elfish language. It is very different than the current house elf language, and it is one of the things that contributes to the enslavement of the house elves. The whole structure of the current language implies a subordinate position. The original language was not like that at all."

"Who knows about the original Elfish?" Hermione asked, looking puzzled. "Harriet Tubman has been muttering and grumbling about the language for the last couple of years."

"Harriet knows less than she thinks she knows," John interjected shaking his head. "The original Elfish language poses problems for more than just house elves, and just speaking a modern version of the original Elfish will not solve all the problems she thinks it will solve."

The elf Elrond spoke for the first time. "The original Elfish, the enslavement of house elves, what goblins are, are at least partially tied into gender roles and a patriarchal society. The myths or memories of where the Elves came from are of a matriarchal society. The first and most powerful wand is Galadriel's wand, one of the wands that have gender. The wand of Thorin was made at least in part by Galadriel's wand. The female gives birth, not the male, and that seems to be critical in wand making and in many other areas of magic. The most powerful prophets of the Magi are female, and all elfish prophets are female."

Arwen continued, "There are no neutral pronouns in Elfish. A gender does not have to be male or female, but if neutral it cannot refer to a thing or being who is male or female. There are no verbs without gender. And there are four genders, not three. There are the common female, male, and neutral gender, but there is another gender that can be best described as a couple, a female and a male working together to do or make or decide something. The root of the couple gender makes it very clear that it is derived from the female but that the male contributes critically to it.

"One example is in procreation. Making a baby is a couple action, but giving birth is female only, but ideally female with male support. Raising a family, being a family in relationship to the outside world, they are couple verbs. Wand making is a couple verb.

"Plant growing is a female verb, but farming is a couple verb. Stone cutting, carpentry are male verbs, but the business of making things of stone or of wood are couple verbs."

"Is war a male verb?" Harry wondered out loud.

"Yes," Arwen admitted. "So is rape. Anything that involves forcing yourself on others, making others do your will even when they may not want to, is male. You can see the change in the writing, where in the oldest writings government is a couple thing, but by two-thousand years ago government was almost exclusively a male thing."

"We are still fighting these gender battles today!" Hermione Granger-Weasley complained with a huff.

"You are not immune to half-measures, Mizz Granger-Weasley," Elrond kidded. "Instead of keeping your maiden name, or taking your husband's name, you hyphenated."

"And instead of freeing the house elves, I own an Elf that I swear is half goblin, and another one who is a happy happy slave," Hermione grumbled blushing a bit.

"I think Harriet is only a quarter goblin," John the Elf volunteered.

"We are here to solve the problem of Thorin carrying a wand, and of Galadriel and Luthien," Harry interjected to get them back on topic. "Are you suggesting that we need to tell this story to the world of the Magi, and say that Thorin and Elves created us, and we cannot order them not to carry wands they made?"

"You let us investigate our ancestry, Harry," John the Elf countered. "What my daughter and son-in-law are telling you is the truth, as near as we can figure out."

Hermione sighed. "When I was young I thought truth was simple, and took great comfort in facts. Facts are stubborn things, but history, and sentient beings like humans and High Elves, are not simple at all.

"We need to decide what we tell the Magi who are complaining. We must not lie, but we do not have to tell everything we are learning."

Harry volunteered, "From what people have been telling me, I would guess that if we announced that magic came from Elves we would create an uproar even greater than the one we are facing now."

"I agree," Gerhardt nodded. "There are people who would think that the Elves and Goblins want to dominate us."

John the Elf sighed. "That is the problem with this whole macho dominance way of looking at the world. Who is the king? Who is in charge? Why cannot we work together? Isn't that what the fourth gender in the Old Elfish is all about?"

"You are at least partially correct, father," Arwen acknowledged. "The writings seem to suggest, sometimes more than suggest, that for the first fifteen-hundred years there was a small group of High Elves and Magi that was in charge, and at the top of that were two more or less equal couples, one of humans and one of High Elves."

"Male and female, with the female on top?" Hermione pondered.

"No, no, the concept of one of the couple having to dominate the other is just all wrong," Arwen insisted. "Magic may have come from the female, but the fourth gender is not, NOT, female dominance. The female gives birth, but now without partnering with the male. It takes both to make a family, to make a wand, to make a good decision."

"Goblins cannot make wands because we have not been full partners with our females," Zefenslot grumbled. "We accepted the toxic macho ideology, and lost more than we gained. I am constantly telling goblins that, if we are patient, that we may be fully equal to the Magi in our lifetime. Just like some Magi want to abuse and dominate no-magic humans, some goblins think that we goblins should dominate the Magi. If goblins stop fighting, I am told, we will not be goblins but just house elves with money. I am ready to be a High Elf and not a goblin, but I cannot say it out loud."

"Why can you not make wands?" Hermione asked. "There are male and female goblins."

Everyone looked at Zefenslot, who shook his head no. "Goblins are all male. Goblin wives have been less than house elves, usually treated as possessions, sometimes as less than slaves. We are trying to change that, but it is not easy. You need a female partner to make a wand, not a servant or slave, and the we lost that when we stopped being equal partners with our females and became the oppressors of them."

"I suggest that we just agree with what has already been said," Hermione proposed. "We say that there are no rules to prevent Elves from using a wand, and there is nothing in our history to suggest that there is any threat to Magi if an Elf uses a wand. We say that Thorin's wand has been examined by the head wandmakers in Switzerland, and others beside, and it was not made by Magi wandmakers, and therefore does not technically fit the definition of a wand per the agreements signed after the last wizard/goblin wars."

"But it is a wand," Thorin replied. "In our classes, I use this wand just like all the Magi use theirs."

"It is a wand, but not a wand forbidden to be used by a goblin, per the treaty," Zefenslot argued.

"How many wands like that do the goblins possess?" Gerhardt pondered.

"None exactly like that, and please do not ask any more," the goblin Zefenslot replied, holding up his hand to try and forestall a protesting Hermione.

"Someone will ask that question," Hermione prophesied.

They prepared a statement in all the common languages of the Magi, signed by all the adults. Albus, Rose, Cleopatra and Scorpius did not sign the document, nor did Galadriel, Luthien, or Thorin. The statements varied, but all explained that there was no record of a document or treaty preventing house elves or any type of Elf from using a wand. They also explained that Thorin's wand was not made by the Magi, not made by witches and wizards, and therefore was not covered by the treaty prohibitions.

"Keep working on the history and language," Harry told the Elves as they parted, everyone back to their homes.

When they arrived back in England, Harry told Hermione, "Please get Ron. Then I want to meet in the living room of our house, Grimmauld Place, just the four adults and four children."

Within a half an hour all eight people were in the living room.

Hermione explained briefly what had happened.

Ginny commented, "We knew most of that information about the wands a year ago."

"Did you know that Albus and Cleopatra were destined to be the next king and queen?" Hermione wondered.

"I'm not sure I want to be a king," Albus groused, crossing his arms. "I may have to be some sort of leader, and I will do my best, but I don't want to be a king with a great throne lording it over people. Please don't tell anyone!"

Hermione thought, "It may be possible for you to change what you are called at some point, but I would guess, from what I have read, that you will start out being called a king."

Rose thought out loud, "It sounds like the two kings and queens in the Narnia books."

But Hermione objected, waving her hands for emphasis, "It is not like that at all. The four in the Narnia books were two brothers and two sisters, all humans. This is two couples, a human couple and a couple of, I guess we call them, High Elves."

Harry confirmed Hermione. "If Galadriel and Thorin marry, they will, I believe, consider themselves High Elves. Galadriel's wand is that important, the first wand in the world."

Albus added, "There are a series of conflicts between various Elf factions, others between Goblin factions, and others between Elves and Goblins. Thorin and Galadriel have talked to us about them, but we Magi need to stay out of it."

"The history is fascinating," Scorpius added, "but I agree with Albus. That is a different story than the one we are living.

"Do Albus and Cleopatra have to battle and defeat her great-grandmother?"

"Cleopatra and Albus, Cleo first," Rose insisted. "It is Cleo's great-grandmother."

"Probably," Harry admitted.

"Are we involved?" Scorpius wondered.

"I was the one who had to fight Tom Riddle," Harry pointed out. "I had a lot of help, and did not do it alone. It would not surprise me if you all are going to be involved in taking down The Pirate Witch Queen."

"I'm not at all happy about Rose being involved in that sort of dangerous adventure," Hermione complained as Rose looked at her mother and scowled.

"She who kept her two boys alive when we were on the run the year before the Battle of Hogwarts," Harry jumped in with. "I'm not happy either, but our children and their friends should do what is right, not what is easy or safe."

No one was happy about having to face dangers, but no one could think of any good alternative either.

2019


	14. Ch 14 Christmas holidays 2018

Ch 14 Christmas holidays 2018

I want to thank my beta Deb for some significant contributions to this chapter. One section was added just because of her suggestions, and her edits have, as always, made the story better.

* * *

"Let us go to my bedroom," Rose suggested after the children had finished talking to the adults. They met in the bedroom that Rose and Cleo shared in Potter's New Burrow. The large house was almost a mirror image of the house that Harry had built for the Weasley family when the original Burrow was destroyed during the last war. Potter's New Burrow was usually empty except for holidays, when the entire Weasley clan would gather. There were Elf quarters in the attic of Potter's New Burrow, just like in the New Burrow, and they were inhabited year round.

When they arrived at the bedroom, the girls sat on one of the beds, and the boys on the other. "Did you know any of this history?" Rose demanded of Albus, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees.

"Cleo and I have been talking to Galadriel and Thorin," Albus admitted with a slow nod. "Next summer we are going to go back into the oldest part of the caves at the castle and see if we can reach the oldest documents."

"Why you?" Rose wondered as she looked between Albus and Cleo. "Just how important are you and Cleo? Are you the only ones who can get back there?"

"We probably are the only ones, Cleo and me working with Galadriel and Thorin. Do not tell anybody!" Albus stressed, pointing at Rose for emphasis. "We are, it seems, very important, but do not tell anyone."

"People are guessing," Ross scoffed, waved her hands in a dismissive gesture. "Why did you remove the wall in front of the castle? You might as well have proclaimed to all the world that you were the next king and queen. Why did you remove that wall?" She looked at Cleo.

"It was ugly, and made the castle look foreboding instead of welcoming," Cleo stated, leaning back on her elbows with a frown as she remembered the wall. "The castle needs to be pretty, welcoming, a fairy tale castle, not a fortress."

"You are already acting like it is your castle, Cleo," Rose fumed with a glare. "Do you really want to live there?"

Cleo looked at Rose astonished. "Of course! It is just like a fairy tale, getting to live in a castle. It has a huge pipe organ, and rooms and rooms. You could have a hundred children living in that castle! You do want to be a mother, don't you, Rose?"

"NO!" Rose yelled, then paused as she snuck a sideways glance at Scorpius before looking back at Cleo, "Well, maybe, after I'm old, but not NOW. I'm too young to even think about that. I don't even have a boyfriend, unlike you and," looking at Scorpius, "is Cassie your girlfriend?" She asked with a frown.

"She thinks she is," Scorpius shrugged and shook his head. "I guess she is, but I'm not, it's not, it's not serious or anything. It is just, I guess, we have to learn to dance starting next year, and she is as good as anybody to dance with but I'm not … I don't know." He finished with a sigh.

"And what am I?" Rose demanded, her hands on her hips as she stared at Scorpius.

"You and Albus are my best friends," Scorpius replied. "Cleo is too, but she is almost more like a sister, but you and I are study partners and best friends, and it doesn't matter that you are a girl."

"I think it matters a WHOLE LOT that I'm a girl," Rose almost yelled, quite offended.

"Do you want me to be your boyfriend?" Scorpius muttered, confused at her reaction.

"How did we get into this conversation, anyway," Rose sighed, obviously frustrated, trying to hide her hurt and jealously. "You already have a girlfriend, airhead Cassie," she said sarcastically. The room filled with an awkward silence as the two refused to look at each other.

"Albus and I need to get Christmas Eve music together," Cleo butted in with, trying to break up what was turning into an awkward and tension filled atmosphere.

"Do you want to go back to your mother's library?" Scorpius asked, very unsure of what had just happened. He really liked Rose, but she obviously did not want him to be her boyfriend. Rose could be rather high strung, but Scorpius liked the ferocity with which Rose attacked most things.

"Yes, I guess," Rose sighed. She looked over at Scorpius. Could they be best friends, and not boyfriend and girlfriend? She didn't think she wanted a boyfriend, and there was no logical reason to be upset that Scorpius had a girlfriend, right?

* * *

That evening Rose found her Aunt Ginny, and asked, "Could we talk?" There was a small office downstairs in Potter's New Burrow, and Ginny led Rose into the office so they could talk privately.

There was a desk in the office, and an office chair, but there were also two comfortable side chairs. Ginny sat on one, and had Rose sit in the other one.

"When did you and Uncle Harry start to date?" Rose asked after a few moments of nervous fidgeting.

Ginny frowned as she thought back, "Not until my fifth year, Uncle Harry's sixth. Why do you want to know?"

"Can you have a best friend who is a boy, but he is not a boyfriend?" Rose wondered.

Ginny laughed, thinking, isn't that the eternal question. It was hard being any kind of a friend with some of the macho males she frequently had to deal with in the Quidditch world. At the same time, she had a rather large circle of friends who were male.

"Of course," Ginny exclaimed, noticing Rose's anxious look. "Your mother and Uncle Harry have been best friends since their first year at Hogwarts, but they have never been boyfriend and girlfriend. I have plenty of friends in the Quidditch world, and more of them are men than women. Why are you asking?"

Rose bit her lip before answering. "Scorpius is really my best friend," Ginny nodded internally as Rose sighed, "and I really like him, but not like that. There is this girl, Cassie, who has glommed onto him and they went to the last dance together, and it shouldn't bother me, but it does."

"First romances seldom last," Ginny consoled Rose, understanding the girl's jealousy as she thought of Cho and Harry during her fourth year, and her own reaction to that incident, "and if she is chasing him I would not be too worried. Just stay friends. If something more happens just let it happen."

"Rose Malfoy?" Rose shrieked, covering her face with her hands to hide her furious blush. "Both of our parents would kill us. It is not going to happen!"

"You could be Rose Granger-Malfoy," Ginny laughed. "Your mother would love it, and she would keep your dad from doing anything. Scorpius's father would probably die of shame, if his father didn't kill him first."

"I cannot talk to mum and dad about romance," Rose mumbled. "Dad loves mum, but sometimes she is too busy to notice. And sometimes dad says just the right thing, but other times he says just the wrong thing and, while they do not fight much, but I think that is because they have been to lots of sessions with the healers. I think they used to fight more than they do now.

"Scorpius and I have a lot of book knowledge, but I think he is a better Magi than I am, and I know Albus and Cleo are better at actually doing the magic. I understand that magic came easily to mum, still does, and I have to work at it.

"Sometimes I just feel really confused and frustrated"

"You are young, and have plenty of time to figure out who you are and what you want to do," Ginny let Rose know. "I will listen to you any time you need me." They talked of a few other things before Rose hugged Ginny and left her study. She had some hard thinking to do when it came to Scorpius.

* * *

Thursday morning Albus contacted Father Lewis to see about the Christmas Eve music, and then contacted the choir director at the church. Albus suggested that his group just do the first service, the children's service, this year. The family that usually was in charge of the later service was available for the late service, and the regular choir was going to be singing Christmas day.

Albus then contacted the other members of their band, and they scheduled practices for Thursday and Friday, the twentieth and twenty-first, and a long practice followed by church services on the twenty-fourth, Christmas Eve.

The four friends spent the next two days in Hermione's library and office, reading up on the Goblin Wars, and on wands. Albus and Cleo also practiced for the Christmas Eve service. Friday afternoon Albus told the band, "Enjoy your weekend. We will meet at the church at 3:00 PM Monday, Christmas Eve, to set up and practice."

* * *

Thursday Morning Cleo and Rose asked to talk to Ginny. When they were alone, Rose looked at Cleo, and then announced, "Cleo needs new clothes, and bras."

Ginny looked at Cleo, who was beginning to look like she was blushing, although her skin was just dark enough that it hid any major change in colour. "I'm a lot bigger than I was last Christmas or even last Summer," Cleo explained. "Madam Swan says that everybody seems to be maturing a lot faster, and I sure am. I don't mind, really. When we went shopping last winter, and I saw how big I was going to get, it just seemed like I would have a mother's shape, really big hips and big on top, and I really LIKE being a girl. It is just that Mrs. Malfoy, Scorpius's mother, she attacks me for having shape.

"I guess I should get one of those minimizing bras, and some dresses that sort of hide how big I am on top. Rose says that dark colours and the right shape can make you look, not flat, but not quite so big, and I guess I should have a dress like that."

"When would you like to go?" Ginny asked.

"Could we go this evening, after dinner and band practice?" Rose suggested.

Ginny agreed and they met later that evening. Cleo ended up with two very flattering dark coloured dresses that had very modest necklines, came down to the floor, and were shaped to be feminine while minimizing how curvy she was getting.

When they were back at Potter's New Burrow with the clothes, Rose left to look for Scorpius. Cleo looked like she wanted to talk, so Ginny suggested that they go into the Potter's bedroom for a private conversation. Once in the bedroom Cleo hugged Ginny hard, almost crying. "Thank you, Mum Potter," she sighed. "How come I can like being me here with you and Albus and your family, and then when I see Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy and the great-grandmothers I feel so, so, I don't know. I just feel big and ugly and awkward when I am with them."

"I think it is their fault you feel that way," Ginny said. "I love you, and so does Albus. I think our whole family really likes you. Just tell yourself that there are a whole lot more of us than there are of them."

"I am glad you have a big family," Cleo sighed. "I like lots of people." Ginny pulled the girl into a hug, which Cleo gladly returned.

* * *

For all the large family gatherings, the kitchen eating area and the formal dining room of the New Burrow were set up as one large room, the wall between them magically removed. There were usually two tables, one for the adults, another for the children. Even though the oldest of the children were now adults, they still sat at the table with their generation.

Saturday morning Frank Longbottom appeared at Potter's New Burrow. At lunch he told the people at the young person's table, "I am working evenings through the holidays. As a second year trainee we are all being pressed into covering for some of the older Aurors. Roxanne and I will be spending mornings at Longbottom Mansion until Christmas, and then spending the mornings of Christmas day and Boxing day with Roxanne's family. I have to work the evening shift both days."

"Are you going to see Aunt Angelina's family?" Victoria asked as she 'presided' over the table.

"We have already been over there this past week," Roxanne explained. "Frank and I are trying to pin down a wedding date. We want to marry as soon as possible after I am finished at Hogwarts."

"Where are you going to live after you are married?" Victoria wondered.

"Probably in one of the apartments in Longbottom Mansion," Frank interjected. "The price is right, and the place is big enough that we will have plenty of privacy. I will be through with my Auror training this summer, but we think Roxanne will be accepted into Auror training in the fall, and it is a two-year program."

"Can you finish your training if you have a baby?" Cleo wondered, looking over at Roxanne.

Rose rolled her eyes and shook her head, looking over at Scorpius. Cleo was obsessed with babies. Scorpius grinned and silently agreed.

'Why am I looking at Scorpius when the subject of babies comes up?" Rose thought. 'NO!.'

"Uncle Harry really wants more female Aurors, and has made special arrangements for female Aurors who are pregnant or young mothers," Roxanne explained. "I do not know if I want to have my children right away or wait. I thought I wanted to wait, but I'm feeling more and more like I do not want to wait. Several of the girls I know who are getting married are eager to have a child right away."

"I LOVE babies," Cleo swooned.

Rose looked at the ceiling. She was NOT going to look at Scorpius again after Cleo's remark.

* * *

All the people Albus and Cleopatra knew who attended the Christmas Eve service last year were there this year.

As the service was ending, Harry Potter went up to the front of the church. He had a private word with Father Jack Lewis, and then announced, "We have some suspicious characters outside the church. It would be better to leave by Floo than to just walk outside. If you need to go outside, please let one of the people from the Department of Magic Law Enforcement know, and we will accompany you.

After the service, Narcissa took Scorpius and Cleopatra back to Malfoy Manor by Floo, with a promise to have them back with the Potter and Weasley families later in the week.

* * *

The family gathered in the large living room at the New Burrow Christmas morning, most of the people arriving between 8:00 AM and 9:00 AM. Young Molly Weasley did not arrive at the New Burrow with her parents and sister. She was the last one to arrive, breathlessly running in from outside with Rich Hudson in tow. Rich's parents, the Potter and Weasley publicists Cindy and Henry Hudson, lived with their two sons and Cindy's parents in a house on the same large piece of property that also held the New Burrow, Potter's New Burrow, and several other houses.

"We have been at my parents," Rich announced, holding Molly's hand and giving it a squeeze. "Molly has agreed to marry me, and we wanted to tell my grandparents first thing. I proposed last night, and she said yes."

Molly held up her hand, showing off a modest engagement ring, a huge smile on her face.

Harry was sitting on one end of a large sofa, with Ginny next to him, Ron next to his sister, and Hermione on the other end. Hermione groused, "Too many marriages right after Hogwarts."

Harry, Ginny and Ron all laughed. "They graduated last year, Hermione," Ron noted. "They will be the same age as we were."

Hermione started to say something, but contained herself. Ron gave Hermione a little kiss as Hermione tried to relax.

Grandmother Molly had to rush over to her namesake and give her a big hug.

"I think your mum is as excited as the girl cousins," Harry suggested, as they watched Grandmother Molly fuss over the ring.

"She's thinking of great-grandbabies," Ginny smirked. "I'm glad we have years and years before we have to worry about that."

Ginny looked over at a lonely Victoire, who was staring out of the window, and thought out loud, "When Teddy gets back I do not think he and Victoire will wait."

Harry silently thought, 'If Teddy gets back.' Harry was all too aware that few people who went undercover on the island of the Pirate Witch Queen ever escaped, and so far none had escaped unscathed.

* * *

Thursday December twenty-seventh Harry was at a Hogwarts board meeting. There was a windowless board room at Hogwarts, outfitted with a large table and plenty of comfortable chairs. In addition to the usual staff and board members, both Genevieve Swan, the school matron, and Poppy Pomfrey, her semi-retired helper, were there. Genevieve told the board, "Students seem to be maturing more quickly the last few months. They also seem to be more eager for sex. We have had to give out more birth control potions, and terminate more pregnancies."

"It looks like we will have more pregnant witches graduate or leave Hogwarts early than I can ever remember," Poppy remarked.

"You terminate pregnancies?" Harry asked, shocked.

"Do not be naive, Harry," Genevieve replied. "Witches have always been known for being able to control fertility. We have been in trouble with churches because of it. Muggle women have come to witches for help both in keeping from getting pregnant and help in terminating pregnancies.

"We have a school filled with boys and girls at an age where they are starting to become sexually active. The Hogwarts matrons have always given female students who asked birth control potions, and given male students condoms. We try not to have to terminate pregnancies, but if we catch it soon enough we do."

"What is soon enough?" Harry asked.

"For witches, about two months," Genevieve replied. "Each witch can make their own judgement when it comes to Muggle women. Healers are very reluctant to terminate a magical pregnancy after two months."

"Is that when Magi feel there is a soul?" Harry asked. "When I have seen the charts that seriously sick Magi have by their beds, there is a dove that signals the person's soul is there, and when they die the dove disappears. Does the dove for the child appear at two months?"

"It is not that simple," Genevieve explained. "We can detect a pregnancy as soon as an egg is fertilized, but the dove symbol is hard to see until sometime after twelve weeks. It is not like it suddenly appears, one day it is not there and the next day it is. Magi healers are just very reluctant to lose a potential magical life."

"What could be causing students to mature earlier?" Harry pondered.

"It is not any Muggle substances we can identify," Minerva McGonagall replied with a shake of her head. "We have checked. We cannot detect any magical potions either, although some of them are very hard to detect."

There was much more discussion about the developing problem, but no conclusion as to the cause or what to do about it.

"We are still getting letters about Thorin and Elves and Goblins using magic wands," Minerva volunteered as they moved onto the next point. "We have one Elf who has a full time job answering the letters. We just give them a copy of the Prophet where you explain about Thorin's wand. I have a few parents threatening not to send their children back to Hogwarts. That is their choice. I've just sent them the same article."

Niles Hanley objected pompously. "The hierarchy is wizards first, wizards and witches, and then goblins, and at the bottom house elves. We won wars against goblins to keep them from carrying wands and being equal to us. I do not want goblins at Hogwarts or using a wand, and I do not want house elves using a wand." He sat back with his arms folded and glowered at the room.

By longstanding tradition each house had at least two board members on the Hogwarts governing board. The other Slytherin board member was a Wendell Wilkes. Wendell always supported Niles. Knowing what the outcome would probably be, Minerva asked, "Does anyone else object to having the Elves and Thorin the Goblin attend Hogwarts?"

Only Niles and Wendell objected, and Minerva went on to other topics.

* * *

Saturday evening Rose ate dinner with just her family and the Potter family at Potter's New Burrow. Everyone was there except her father, who was working late at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. When dinner was finished she asked her mother, "Can we talk privately, please?"

"Come into our bedroom," Hermione replied. Hermione led Rose into her parents' private bedroom at Potter's New Burrow. Rose noticed that her parents' bedroom was not as warm as that of her Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry. The feel of the bedroom reflected her mother's need for organization and order, and was a much more modern style than that of Aunt Ginny.

Hermione sat down cross-legged on the bed, and Rose, a little surprised by this casual way of sitting, followed suite.

"What is on your mind?" Hermione asked.

Rose looked at her mother, not sure how to start. "Are you and Uncle Harry best friends?" she finally wondered.

Hermione took a moment to think. "Probably," she finally admitted. "We have lunch together, just the two of us, in his or my office, every other week or so. We seek each other out if we have a hard problem and need advice or help. We have been close since Hogwarts, and I do not expect it will change any time soon."

"Was he ever your boyfriend?" Rose wondered.

Hermione laughed. "Never!" she exclaimed. "I just don't, have never thought of Uncle Harry like that."

"He never, like, frustrated you romantically?" Rose timidly inquired.

"No, never! Now your father, he," Hermione sighed a huge sigh, "he can frustrate me. I know I frustrate him."

They sat, looking at each other. Eventually Hermione asked, "Is this about Scorpius?"

"He has a girlfriend!" Rose jumped in with. "He's a MALFOY, and he can be an arrogant berk. But he is an ideal study partner, and I like him, but it is, mum, I do not know what it is."

"Your father and I are probably not the ideal people to talk to about romance," Hermione admitted. "Ask Aunt Ginny."

"I did. She kidded me about being Rose Granger-Malfoy," a red faced Rose giggled.

Hermione started to giggle.

"Maybe I can get Scorpius to change his name to Scorpius Granger-Malfoy," Rose suggested.

Hermione broke up in laughter. When Hermione finally caught her breath she suggested, "Draco would die, if his father didn't kill him first."

"That is exactly what Aunt Ginny said," Rose exclaimed, pushing on her mom's shoulder. "You are not helping!"

"I am sorry, Rose. I have no idea what to tell you."

Rose sighed and put her chin on her fist,

"I know I don't need to give you the sex talk." Hermione carefully remarked. Rose was like her, with plenty of academic knowledge.

Rose looked horrified, and began to frantically shake her head.

"But do you have any questions about sex?"

Rose paused and asked a question that most girls have. "Does it hurt the first time?"

Hermione had to restrain herself from going and getting charts and books. She laid on the bed, stretching out her legs and pushing her pillow under her head. She pulled on Rose's hand until the girl moved to lay down using her father's pillow and faced her mother. Hermione smiled at her daughter and moved a lock of hair behind Rose's ear.

"I hope your first time is not rushed, or forced in any way," Hermione pled. "Even if it is after you are married or engaged, it's awkward, and sometimes a little painful, the first time. I hope your partner is patient, and you are patient with each other. It gets easier and better with practice."

"I'm not planning to do it any time soon," Rose rushed to explained. "I'm not even eager to have any boy feeling my body, touching me like that, not until I'm older and ready.

"I guess I need to know about birth control before I do it, though."

Hermione was patient and calm at some of her daughter's questions about improvised birth control.

"Some of the older boys, they seem to be putting a lot of pressure on girls to do it," Rose remarked. "Some girls seem to think they have to give in, and others get mad. I think I would get mad."

"I think you should get mad," Hermione agreed. They talked a good deal more about boys pressuring girls who weren't ready. After about thirty minutes the two fell silent and Rose smiled at her mom. "Thanks mom, I was kind of worried about… well everyone seems to be growing up so fast and I keep thinking I am slow or wrong for not wanting a boyfriend right away. You know how the girls talk…"

Hermione laughed, "Boy do I ever. I had boy crazy, Lavender and Parvati as roommates, and sometimes I think that all they thought about was fashion, makeup, boys… and sex."

Rose laughed and looked at her mom noticing that she was relaxed and well… pretty without all the stress that she always seemed to deal with. A loud bang came from the downstairs, and the two sighed, as the world filled the room again and they sat up and got off the bed. Hermione and Rose hugged. Talking was good, Rose thought, even if her mother didn't have all the answers.

* * *

Scorpius and Cleopatra were not able to go back to Potter's New Burrow until Sunday afternoon, December thirty, to their great frustration. "My father tried to hold a big party Saturday night, and we had to be all dressed up," Scorpius grumbled as they sat at the kitchen table eating dinner. "Only four families showed up, Cassiopeia Starkey and her parents showed up. I think her mother wants Cassiopeia to marry money. Her Mother's eyes were taking in all the expensive things in the house.

"The Hanley family was also there. I think that Mr. Hanley wanted to complain about me. I do not like that family! It was not a fun party."

"Did you and Cassie have a good time?" Rose wondered, trying to sound casual. There was no reason for her insides to churn when they were talking about Cassie.

"We danced a little, and talked," Scorpius admitted with a shrug. "She tries to be nice. She even defended Cleo when Mr. Hanley insulted her. No one talked to Cleo. She finally sat at the organ and started to play, and my father sent her to her room."

Cleopatra just frowned, she did not say anything, but picked at her robe listlessly. Rose looked over at her friend with concern and asked her, "What happened at the party, Cleo?"

Cleo grumbled, "I wore the most conservative, black, I think it is black, dress, one Mum Potter and I purchased just before Christmas. I do not have any fancy dress robes that fit. I think wearing robes is just stupid. None of the other MELL students do. Almost nobody in Switzerland wears robes.

"All the other people were in dress robes. Mrs. Astoria Malfoy called me a fat slut, showing too much bust, even though I had the minimizer bra on. I mean, I was covered up to my neck! Madam Swan says I have the figure of a busty fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl instead of one just thirteen, but I can't help it."

"I am not sure what anyone can do about Astoria Malfoy," Ginny sighed, wanting to smack the woman for how much she was hurting Cleo.

"You cannot tell what colour the dress is?" Rose pondered with a frown.

"Sometimes I can see too many colours, see magical colours on top of the normal colours," Cleo explained. "The dress looks black in a mirror, but it has some shine, some things that sparkle or reflect things. I am not as good at colour and how things look as you are."

* * *

Early Monday morning, December thirty-first, Louis Weasley called Albus on his mobile asking, "We, Mary, Henry and I would like to come over at work on potions today, do you have any other plans?"

Albus repeated the question to Rose and Cleo, who were okay with the plan and invited the three to come over and have breakfast with them, so they could begin right away.

After breakfast the six Magi took the Floo to twelve Grimmauld Place, and they spent the day in the potions room making shampoo and perfume. Henry helped with the easier part of potion making. Mary had a real talent for the spells, and Louis was learning. By the end of the day all of the orders for shampoo and perfume business were finished.

2019


	15. Ch 15 Winter into Spring

Ch 15 Winter into Spring

I want to thank my Beta Deb for major changes and additions to this.

* * *

The students arrived back on Wednesday, January second, two thousand and nineteen. Classes started right away, with the first classes Thursday morning.

Thursday, after dinner, the Magic and Elf Language Learners (MELL) students met in the meeting room under the Gryffindor common room. As long as it was before curfew, Gryffindor students could have students from other houses there, and it was the room the Weasley/Potter cousins and friends use for their meetings.

The students spent some time talking about their Christmas break. All of the MELL students had been asked about Galadriel and Luthien and Elf wands, and Thorin and goblin wands.

"I have already been approached by students upset that I have a wand," Thorin announced after the group got down to business, "even though I have been using this wand since I first arrived at Hogwarts."

"We have had some students amazed that we are Elves," Galadriel laughed, looking exasperated at that. "We do not look quite human, thank goodness. We have never tried to hide what we are."

Gabrielle DuMond remarked, "Well, you are much prettier than most Elves." Galadriel just rolled her eyes at the remark.

"Some students want to argue with us, with my sister and Thorin and me," Galadriel continued, shaking her head. "I would expect all of us MELL students would have people trying to argue with us. Please do not argue. Just refuse to talk about wands."

"That is not going to be easy to do," Gabrielle protested.

"I think Galadriel is right," Albus stressed, looking at each of the MELL students. "See if you can put off any discussion of Elves and Goblins and wands until after next summer. We are learning much more about these subjects, but are not ready to talk about them until we learn more and are sure we are right."

Throughout the next few weeks, a number of the students tried to get more information out of Albus and the rest, but no one would say more.

* * *

Friday night, just before midnight, after two full days of classes, Albus and Scorpius were awakened by a Hogwarts Elf. The Elf told the boys as they quickly got dressed, "Bowman Flint is at the Hogs Head Inn, and we think he will be there for some time. Now is a good time to map all the area around the sewage treatment plant and his house. Rose and Cleo are with another Elf, and will meet us there."

The four friends spent about two hours mapping all the area from the border of the protected area around Hogwarts to the castle, mapping almost all of the side of the castle that had not been previously mapped. When they were finished Albus made a copy of the map and handed it to the Elf. The Elf told Albus, "I will give this to the headmistress." He then took the two boys back to their room to try and get back to sleep until it was time to get up for breakfast.

* * *

The next morning Albus sent his father an updated copy of the Hogwart's Map. When Harry received it, he looked at the map. He watched as Bowman Flint went up to the two cisterns that fed water to Hogwarts once a week. Earlier Harry had installed a video camera at each cistern to record what Bowman did at the cisterns. He waved his wand over the water several times. Harry saw that at least some of the time he was testing the water, since he produced a parchment that he gave to an Elf to deliver to Minerva every week. The report showed generally very minor contamination, well within any health standards, including extremely low levers of residual potion ingredients. Harry knew that at least once a year a sample of the water was taken to the Ministry where it was tested, and that the tests had agreed for as long as the testing had been done.

Bowman also continuing to meet with the witch that was working for the Pirate Witch Queen of the Caribbean. Harry felt powerless, like something was going on and he neither knew what it was nor how to stop it. He wondered if he could have someone/elf watch the map to see if Flint met with anyone else. A couple of weeks of watching did not turn up Bowman meeting with anyone else, however.

* * *

The first week in February Henry Slughorn asked Albus to stay after History Class. Albus and Cleo stayed. "I am having a meeting of the Slug Club this weekend, Sunday night. I would like to invite some of the students that are here with Elves. Give me a list of the students, please, so I can give them formal invitations."

Albus sat down and wrote out a list of all the student's names, and handed it to Professor Slughorn. He then asked, "Do you have a list of the other students?"

Professor Slughorn replied with a sly smile, "You will find out when you meet them."

* * *

There were two history classrooms next to each other. Willie Nutting, a one-hundred and thirty-five-year-old witch, taught Modern History, since she had lived much of it. She, Henry and Horace Slughorn were the hosts of the party. Olivia Ollivander was the only other professor there.

Albus made a map of the classrooms as soon as they arrived, and as soon as Henry announced that everyone was there he froze the map so he could tell who had attended the party. There were a fair number of Slytherin students. Albus noticed that the Elves and Goblin were not invited, even though they were attending Hogwarts with the Magi. None of the MELL students in first year were invited either.

The four friends arrived at the party together. They were all dressed in good Muggle clothes. Albus wore what his mother called his "banker suit," black with fine pinstripes. Scorpius had purchased a Muggle suit in Switzerland, along with other Muggle clothes, so he could fit in with the other MELL students, and he was wearing it. Both had silk ties in Slytherin colors. Rose was wearing conservative floor length dress with a high neckline and full sleeves. Cleopatra was wearing the white dress with the big flowers, and of course big pockets, looking as usual way too feminine without looking particularly pretty.

Albus thought that he and Scorpius were the only Slytherin students not in robes until he spotted Orion Ollivander, Ashley Ollivander's older brother. Orion was wearing dark trousers, a white shirt open at the collar with no tie, and a lightweight jacket that had on the back, "Ollivander's, Diagon Alley, England. Wandmakers."

Albus went up to Orion, and looked at the jacket. "You are not wearing robes," he remarked, motioned to his and Orion's suit.

"This is more comfortable," Orion replied, flexing out his arms. "I do not see why some of these old families are fighting modernity."

"Did they know how you felt when they made you a prefect?" Albus asked.

Orion held a finger up to his lips. "I think you and I need to talk privately," he whispered.

Cleo was waving at someone. "I see Alice Longbottom over there," she said, waving at the oldest of the two Longbottom daughters, a seventh year student.

"Hello, Alice. This is our first time at the Slug Club. What kind of people are here?" Cleo inquired when Alice came over to the group.

"The Slughorns' try to pick people who will be prominent, or rich, or who have very prominent parents," Alice indicated, waving her hand to point out who the people in the room were. "The Macmillians are here because they are rich. We are here because of my father. Most of the professors' children are not here, but the Longbottom family is wealthy, and with dad being the second in command and heir apparent of Professor McGongall, I guess we are important enough to be invited.

"Dad says I should go to see what is going on, but it's mostly a stupid party with a lot of posturing by some of the students. Dolly is a prefect, and she knows more of the politics. I like working at The Leaky Cauldron, and I think I will just work there after Hogwarts."

Cleo enthusiastically waved Dolly Longbottom over. Rose whispered to Scorpius, "That's Cleo," shaking her head at Cleopatra's exuberance.

Scorpius replied, "Subtle she is not." Cleopatra's exaggerated feminine figure was noticeable. Some guys talked about girls' figures, but Scorpius was embarrassed if he did. He wondered if girls looked at guys like guys looked at girls.

Scorpius told Rose, "That is a pretty dress."

"Thank you," Rose muttered. Rose looked at Cleo's somewhat revealing dress, her very conservative dress, shuttered and turned away. Rose was developing a more feminine figure, but she wasn't about to show it off. This growing up was complicated for a girl. It seemed so easy for a guy.

'I've said just the wrong thing,' Scorpius thought. 'Rose wears a pretty dress that shows she is a girl, and then doesn't like it when I notice. It is not easy knowing what to say to a girl when you are a guy.'

By this time Dolly was with the others, and Orion had moved away.

"Welcome to the Slug club," Dolly cheerily intoned. "I see the Slughorns think you are important enough to be invited. All the older MELL Magi are here. It looks like they didn't invite the Elves and Goblin. I wonder why?"

"I will ask them," Albus replied. "Have you figured out why they invite some people and not others?"

"Part of it is money," Dolly thought. "The Slytherin students are all from old, rich families. Louis Weasley is here because of how rich his father has become, and because he seems interested in power and money. Victoire was not invited when she was at Hogwarts because she seemed more interested in healing and babies and Teddy, at least from what I can see."

"What are you interested in?" Scorpius inquired.

"Expanding the greenhouses at Longbottom Mansion," Dolly replied with a shrug. "I love growing magical plants. I think the greenhouses could grow more and make more money."

"Frank can be the hero Auror in the family," Alice explained. "I really like playing hostess, and helping people. The magical community has grown, and we are going to be buying a couple of Muggle buildings next door to the Leaky Cauldron and expanding both the restaurant and the hotel part of the business. Mum doesn't even need any of the Longbottom money to do it. All the money will come from the Leaky."

The party lasted a couple of hours, but was winding down well before the students had to be back in their dormitories.

* * *

The next time Albus saw the younger Professor Slughorn he asked him, "Why did you not invite the first year MELL students?"

"Politics, Mr. Potter," the professor replied. "Some of the old guard in the Slug Club get upset if we add too many new members at a time. I wanted to make sure that your group of students would not cause problems."

"Why not ask the Elves and Thorin. You could not find more prominent beings," Albus insisted.

But Professor Slughorn demurred. "Mr. Potter, you have no idea how much of a problem it would be if I treated house elves and goblins like they were PEOPLE. Many of our patrons would want the club dissolved, and would never talk to my grandfather and me again. Not possible having house elves and goblins as members. Not possible."

* * *

At the next meeting of MELL students Albus explained what Professor Slughorn had told him about inviting the Elves and Goblin. "I don't think we should go to his Slug Club meeting if they don't include Elves and Goblins," Albus concluded.

After some discussion, they all agreed not to attend any more Slug Club meetings unless the Elves and Goblin were included.

* * *

Albus was coming back from Quidditch practice towards the end of February when he spotted Orion Ollivander. "Want to talk," Albus whispered.

"Privately," Orion whispered back.

"Follow me," Albus motioned.

Two turns and they were alone in a seldom used hallway. Two more turns and Albus was leading Orion into a small, comfortable room. It looked like the living room of a small apartment, and that is what it had last been used as.

"How did you know about this room?" Orion asked, amazed as he looked around the room.

"I have a reasonably good map of the castle," Albus explained taking a seat and motioning to Orion to sit opposite him. "There are areas around our dorm that are hard to map.

"I am eager to talk to you. You were wearing Muggle clothes, not robes, at the party. You usually wear Muggle clothes, not the strange, old fashion garb that many of the Slytherin students wear."

"That's pretty superficial," Orion countered. "You judge me because of the clothing I wear?"

"I try not to be hasty judging anyone," Albus replied. "I have noticed that the families most resistant to the changes happening in the world of the Magi wear traditional robes."

"Mum and dad wear traditional robes in the shop," Orion explained, "but otherwise we normally dress in comfortable modern clothes."

"Why do you want to talk to me privately," Albus wondered. "It is hard to understand the dynamics of Slytherin, but I am not sure you are totally in agreement with Tom Riddle Hanley and his clique."

Orion responded, rubbing his forehead, "I want to talk to you for a couple of reasons. I do not like the way the ruling clique is trying to run Slytherin, and I am really concerned about Tom Riddle Hanley and what he is doing."

"We think TR Hanley has found a way into The Chamber of Secrets, but we cannot find it," Albus suggested leaning forward, his elbows on his knees. "We also know that for the first time in over a generation there seem to be basilisk in the forest. I notice that the Slytherin students mostly wear the special protective glasses."

"Hanley is insisting that the Slytherin students wear the glasses," Orion confirmed with a nod. "Well, he is insisting that all of the pure blood students wear them. Hanley hates anyone who is not a pure-blooded wizard. Archana Lucy and Tom Higgy, the seventh year prefects are on his side, as is his sister Bellatrix Hanley. Katherine Wilkes is too. I'm not sure about Victor Valsey. Being on the Quidditch team seems to have made a difference with Victor, you not all being pure blooded."

"What about your sister Ashley?" Albus asked.

"Ashley is still upset that she did not get the wand that Cleopatra has," Orion explained with a sigh. "She and aunt Olivia seem to be upset about many of the changes going on. I know that they are upset that you have the Elder Wand. Aunt Olivia has gone on and on about how that wand should be in the possession of wandmakers."

"Does your aunt want to be a wandmaker?" Albus wondered.

"She does, but it takes a married couple to make wands," Orion replied. "Mum said that when she became pregnant with me it was easier for her to do her part in making a wand. Dad said it was easier for him as well. I've asked about it, because I think I would like to make wands myself. Aunt Olivia seems to not like men much. I do not know what her problem is."

"There is a group at the Department for Magical Law Enforcement that deals with domestic abuse," Albus admitted. "I've talked some to my father about it. Sometimes the abuser is a female, but most of the time it is a male. Maybe your aunt has had a bad experience with a man or men."

"I think you can be a man without being nasty," Orion suggested. "Some of the pure blooded guys just seem to think that they have to be tough and mean, and some of the girls, I don't know, go along with it or something. Dad says that to be a good wandmaker you need a wife partner, not a wife who acts like a house elf."

"Does that mean we may be able to change some of the girls, get them on our side?" Albus pondered.

"Maybe," Orion guessed. Albus and Orion spent another hour talking about all the students in Slytherin, and met privately a couple more times to go over who might be potential allies in changing Slytherin.

* * *

It was cool the first Saturday in April, but not too cold to visit the centaurs. As was their custom, Albus and Cleopatra left their Elf guards at the edge of the forest, and after they were well into the forest stripped to their waists to appease the centaurs.

After the usual formal greetings, the centaur Apollo told the two Magi, "The basilisk are growing, and there are at least two and maybe more of them. We have cordoned off an area around the spider's nest, and are guarding that area as well as we can. These," and Apollo took out his mobile, "only help a little. Your father, Albus, cannot offer us any advice."

"We think the basilisk are in the Chamber of Secrets," Albus told the centaurs, "and we are looking for a way into it. The old way is blocked. We are reasonably sure the second entrance is near the Slytherin dormitory, but we have not found it yet."

2019


	16. Ch 16 TR Hadley and the Chamber of Secr

Ch 16 TR Hadley and the Chamber of Secrets

Major changes and additions because of my great Beta Deb. I have another chapter to her, and still another one in the works.

* * *

Saturday evening, May fourth, after dinner Albus went to his room and took out his map of Hogwarts. He had not seen Tom Riddle Hanley at dinner, but also missing were three of the older prefects. Albus looked on his map for Tom R Hanley, Archana Lucy and Tom Higgy, the seventh year prefects, and Bellatrix Hanley, one of the sixth year prefects. None of them were visible.

Albus found Orion Ollivander, the other sixth year prefect, and asked him, "Do you know where Tom Riddle Hanley, his sister Bellatrix, Archana and Tom are?"

"No," Orion admitted. "If we cannot find them by tomorrow morning we need to tell Professor Ollivander."

The next morning the four students were still missing. Albus went up to Delilah Rosier and asked, "Do you know where the Hanley's, Archana, and Tom are?"

"It is none of your business," Delilah snapped.

Albus found Orion Ollivander, and had Orion ask Delilah, but she snapped at him as well. Albus and Orion asked a number of other students, including Marshall Lestrange, Tomasina Nott, and Caradoc Dearborn, but none of them admitted to anything, and most of them did not realize that the three prefects were missing.

Albus and Orion then found Professor Ollivander and told her about the missing students.

"How are you sure they are missing?" Professor Ollivander inquired.

Albus did not want to broadcast the fact that he had a map of Hogwarts, so he told the professor, "We cannot find them. No one we asked had any idea where they were. I think the headmistress has a way of finding all the students. Ask her, please."

"How do you know they are not in the infirmary?" Professor Ollivander inquired. "How do you know they did not go home for the weekend?"

"We don't know," Albus admitted.

Professor Ollivander dismissed the students.

* * *

Monday the five were still missing. Professor Ollivander assembled the Slytherin students and asked, "Do any of you know where Tom and Bellatrix Hanley, Archana Lucy or Tom Higgy are?"

No one would admit to anything.

"Delores Hanley, your older brother and sister are missing. You must know something?" Professor Ollivander charged.

The third year student looked like she was thinking, and then slowly shook her head no.

"Lucius Hanley?" Professor Ollivander snapped.

The second year student fiercely shook his head no.

"If they do not show up by tomorrow morning we are calling in the Aurors," Professor Ollivander stressed, obviously very upset. "If any of you know anything about this, tell a professor."

* * *

Tuesday morning Albus looked at his map. The students were still missing. He found Orion as the students were heading to the Great Hall for Breakfast, and said to him, "The four are still missing. We need to say something to Professor McGonagall and the others."

"Come with me, and I will tell them," Orion replied.

Albus and Orion Ollivander approached Professor Olivia Ollivander as breakfast was starting. Orion said, loud enough that all the professors could hear, "Tom Riddle Hanley, his sister Bellatrix, Archana Lucy and Tom Higgy are still missing. They have been missing since Saturday. Somebody needs to do something!"

Professor McGonagall jumped up, saying in a fierce and barely controlled voice, "Mr.'s Potter and Ollivander, Professor Ollivander, come with me!" She led them into a small room off the main dining room.

Once they were in the room, Albus started by saying, "On Saturday I could not find Tom or Bellatrix Hanley, Archana Lucy or Tom Higgy. I asked Orion, since he was the most senior prefect left, and we tried to find them. We were not sure what to do, but when we could not find them Sunday we went to Professor Ollivander.

"Yesterday Professor Ollivander asked the rest of the house about the missing four, but no one knew anything. I'm sorry to interfere, but something is wrong."

"Thank you for telling me," Professor McGonagall replied in a voice that was kindly towards the students, but very uptight. "You are dismissed."

Albus and Orion left the room, but before they had closed the door they heard Professor McGonagall rage, "You have had four students missing and you didn't tell anyone! …"

Before breakfast had ended Albus saw Professor McGonagall storm out of the little room and march out of the Great Hall, obviously furious.

* * *

Minerva McGonagall marched up to her office to call Harry Potter, still amazed that she was using this Magical/Muggle mobile instead of a Patronus or Floo call.

Harry answered, "How can I help you, Minerva?"

"Tom and Bellatrix Hanley, Archana Lucy and Tom Higgy are missing. We last saw them Saturday for breakfast. We do not think they were at lunch, but that is not unusual on a Saturday. We know none of them were at dinner."

"You cannot find them on the map?" Harry inquired.

"Albus was the first to notice, on his copy of the map," Minerva explained. "He noticed it Saturday night, and told Professor Ollivander on Sunday. She did not tell me, though. Your son Albus and another student, Orion Ollivander, announced it to the staff this morning.

"If I was a dragon the whole of Hogwarts would be burned to a crisp, I am so mad. I told Olivia that from now on I am in charge of Slytherin. I will work with her, but this dragon dung of Slytherin being independent stops right now!"

"How would you usually find out that a student is missing?" Harry wondered.

"That is one of the jobs of the prefects, especially the senior prefects," Minerva explained. "The matrons tell both the head of house and the senior prefects if a student is in the infirmary. I tell the same people if a student suddenly has to go home for some reason. The prefects are responsible for telling us if all the students are not in their rooms overnight."

"That doesn't help much if the senior prefects are missing," Harry mused.

"Albus told Orion Ollivander, the most senior prefect left," Minerva said. "The two of them went to Orion's aunt. I should have been notified right away!"

"We will contact their parents first," Harry told Minerva. "They need to be notified in any case, and if they took the students out of school, and didn't tell anyone, I want our Aurors to be the first to confront them. Missing students is not a matter to be taken lightly."

"Let me know as soon as you find out anything, Harry, please," Minerva insisted.

Harry placed a Floo call to Niles Hanley. "Tom and Bellatrix are missing," Harry stated without a preamble, "along with Archana Lucy and Tom Higgy. If you have any idea where they might have gone, please let us know."

"What do you mean, they are missing?" Niles yelled.

Harry replied, "They did not show up for dinner Saturday night, and no one can remember them at lunch Saturday either. Saturday the school started to search for them, but so far no one will admit to knowing anything. Your son has disappeared for hours at a time, and no one knows where he goes. It is time to tell us everything you know about what your son has been doing."

"I have no idea where they are," Niles snapped. "If they have left the Hogwarts grounds I have a couple of ideas where they may be. I do not think they have left Hogwarts."

"Please look anywhere else they may be," Harry pled. "We will continue to see if they are in some hidden area of Hogwarts."

Harry notified the other parents, with similar results. He assembled a team of people from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, but they could not find anything either.

* * *

Wednesday after dinner the four students were still missing. Albus assembled the MELL students, and they all went down towards the Slytherin dormitory. They were looking outside the entrance to the dormitory when Cleo started sniffing the air. "I think I smell something awful," she coughed.

Cleo felt along the wall with her wand, sniffing and coughing. Galadriel the Elf took out her wand and felt along the wall. Cleo stopped at a crack in the wall. Galadriel put her wand on the crack and it started to open. The rest of the students could now smell something. Albus put his wand on the crack as well, and a door opened. Albus yelled, "Make sure you have your glasses on. We think there are basilisk in there!"

The smell that came from the door was overwhelming awful. Thorin the Goblin took out the Sword of Gryffindor. Albus, Cleo and Scorpius went through the door. Others tried, but the way seemed to be blocked. Thorin took the sword and passed it to Scorpius, telling him, "Put your wand in the hilt of the sword."

Cleo illuminated the corridor with her wand. Just as they started in a basilisk attack. The basilisk was about six foot (two meters) long and six inches (fifteen centimeters) in diameter, and was moving fast. Albus tried to stun it, with some success, but it was Scorpius who cut off its head with the sword. The three cautiously went a little further into the chamber before encountering another basilisk that was the same size as the first one. Albus confined this one, and again Scorpius killed it with the sword.

"I think there are more basilisk here," Albus said, just as another one attack. By this time Albus knew what would confine the basilisk, keep it from moving, so Scorpius could dispatch it. It was a good thing that Albus had confined the basilisk, because it took Scorpius a couple of tries to kill this one.

The smell was so bad that it was hard to concentrate.

The corridor was all smooth stone. Albus shouted, "Look for gaps and holes in the stone. We do not want a basilisk to attack us from behind." The three of them carefully scanned the walls as they went in, but the stone was smooth with no obvious gaps or holes. It was not a long walk until they could see a room ahead, but before the room they could see, in the corridor, what looked like a partly eaten body.

"I think we need to go back," Albus suggested. "This looks like a crime scene Dad and the Aurors need to investigate."

"Look out," Cleo pointed as another basilisk slithered towards them. Just as Albus was stunning this one two more attack. Scorpius was able to kill two of them, but the third was heading towards the open door. Scorpius ran after the basilisk, cutting off its tail just as it emerged from the corridor. Everyone backed off as the wounded basilisk turned on Scorpius and bit him, just as he cut off its head.

Scorpius collapsed on the floor. Albus called, "Fawkes!" and the phoenix appeared.

"Scorpius is hurt," Albus told the phoenix. "Please heal him."

Fawkes flew over to Scorpius, landed on him, and cried one tear. The tear landed on the spot where the basilisk had bitten Scorpius.

Cleopatra was doing something at the door to the corridor. A gentle breeze was moving into the corridor. The smell was becoming a little less overwhelming, although it was still bad.

"Have we killed all the basilisk?" Albus asked out loud. "We have killed six of them."

Delores Hanley, the sister of the Hanley's who were missing, whispered, "I think so."

Albus turned around and snapped, "What did you know?"

Delores cried, "Not much. I did not know how to get into the Chamber of Secrets. Just something about six basilisks and killing mudbloods and all sorts of awful stuff."

Lucius Hanley, Delores's younger brother, muttered, "Shut up," to his sister as he made a threatening gesture.

Professor McGonagall came striding into the corridor, followed by Olivia Ollivander, Urban Umbridge, and Henry Slughorn, the three professors who had been in Slytherin.

Scorpius was sitting on the floor, the bloody Sword of Gryffindor in his hand, a dead basilisk at his feet. Cleo was pointing her wand into the newly opened door, as a breeze wafted into it. Albus looked to be in command of the situation; at least everyone else was looking at him.

"Scorpius killed six basilisks," Albus jumped in with. "They were all about the same size as the one on the floor next to Scorpius. Delores Hanley says that there are only six, at least that is what she heard. We stumbled across a dead and partly eaten body before we retreated. So far only Scorpius, Cleo and I can get into the corridor. Thorin and Galadriel tried, and they could not get in."

"Is that awful smell coming from that?" Olivia asked, pointing to the door and the corridor behind the door.

"It is a lot less now that Cleo is pushing air into it," Albus replied. "It was worse by the dead body."

"What do you know, Miss Handley?" Professor McGonagall kindly asked.

Delores looked at her brother and muttered, "Nothing."

Albus insisted, "You said there were only six basilisks!"

But Delores just mumbled, "I don't know nothing." as she started to cry.

Professor McGonagall pulled out her wand and conjured up her Patronus. "Tell Harry Potter that we have a major incident here with at least one and probably four deaths, basilisk and more." The shimmery cat scampered off.

Gabriel and Hermeli Habsburg came running into the corridor outside the Slytherin quarters.

"Our resident Aurors are a little late," Professor McGonagall quipped. "I am glad you are here. We seem to have at least six dead basilisks and one dead person in there," pointing to the door and opening in the wall.

Gabriel walked up to the door but could not get through the opening.

"See if you can get in," Professor McGonagall commanded Olivia Ollivander.

"Me?" Olivia squeaked.

"You are a graduate of Slytherin. IN!" McGonagall shouted.

Professor Ollivander went into the corridor, and came right back out. "It smells even worse in there," she said through coughs. "It smells like death."

"I will see if I can get in," Orion Ollivander volunteered. "I will come right back out." Orion walked into and then out of the corridor.

The corridor was beginning to become packed with people.

Professor McGonagall announced, "Galadriel, Luthien, Thorin, please stay. Miss Smith (referring to Cleo,) you can also stay. Anybody else, if you are not in Slytherin, please leave. That includes the MELL students. We need room here. Slytherin students, if you know anything tell Mr. or Mrs. Habsburg, then returning to your dormitory."

Rose asked, "May I please stay, Professor McGonagall?"

She answered, "Well, I guess. You seem to be part of this foursome."

"I would like Orion to stay as well," Albus told Professor McGonagall. "He is the most senior prefect left."

Professor McGonagall agreed.

It took about twenty minutes of work to clear the corridor. Gabriel and Hermeli Habsburg did interview a number of students who had seen Albus, Cleo and Scorpius go through the door and enter the corridor, and seen them come out battling the basilisk.

* * *

Harry had gone back into work, and was assembling a team to go to Hogwarts, when he received a text message from Albus. ' _It looks like only Slytherin's can get into the chamber'_ Albus typed.

Harry switched gears. There was a record of which house all of the Aurors and other employees of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement had been sorted into, as long as they had attended Hogwarts. There were a number of Aurors, some from other countries, who had not attended Hogwarts. He had Mary Lou Creevey, one of his administrative assistants, give him a list of all the Aurors and other Department of Magical Law Enforcement officers who had been in Slytherin, and then picked five of them to accompany him to Hogwarts.

It took a half an hour for him to assemble the staff and take a Floo to the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes store in Hogsmeade, and then get to the proper corridor at Hogwarts.

Theodore Nott had been in the first class of Aurors, and was someone who Harry trusted and knew as a good field Auror, and one who could lead the group into the corridor and chamber beyond. Oliver Oddpick was a wand expert, good at finding out what spells a wand had been used for. He would not have been Harry's first pick for an assignment like this, but he didn't have much of a choice. The other three Slytherin graduates were not Aurors. Two, a witch and a wizard, were patrol officers, and the third was little more than a file clerk. Law enforcement seemed not to be a common choice for a job for a Slytherin student, and some of the family histories were suspect enough that Harry was not eager for people from those families working for him.

When Harry and his team arrived at the doorway to the Chamber of Secrets, he looked at Albus, asking, "What did you see?"

Albus thought, "It is a modest size corridor leading to some sort of chamber. We did not get far enough in to see what was in the chamber. The only thing we saw except the corridor ending in some sort of a room was a partly eaten dead body just inside the corridor."

Harry was quiet for a few moments, then asked, "So was your cell phone broken, not charged or something like that? You had Elves with you. Why did you not call for help right away?"

"Sir?" Albus asked not understanding the question.

"Because that is the only reason I can think of that instead of calling me or Professor McGonagall when you discovered the smell or when you came across the first basilisk, and backing out of the chamber, that you kept going forward and nearly got your best friend killed."

"That's not what happened!" Cleo protested.

"Isn't it?" Harry asked, "It's not that I would have stopped you from going, but with a lot more wands and more protection so Scorpius wouldn't have gotten hurt in the first place."

"But you killed that basilisk on your own," Albus reminded him.

"We were in the midst of a war," Harry grumbled, "and I did not have many allies. Too many people lost their lives. Do NOT go off on your own, Albus."

"Yes, sir," Albus meekly replied. Perhaps they should have called for help as soon as the door began to open.

Harry looked at Cleopatra, and asked her, "What did you see?"

"Albus and Scorpius fighting the basilisk," she replied. "The tunnel or corridor was smooth stone, with joints but no gaps I could see. I think the dead body was a girl. I'm not sure why I think that. The room was dark, and my wand did not give enough light to let us know what it is like."

"What did you see, Scorpius," Harry asked.

"Basilisk," Scorpius stressed. "One basilisk after another. I kept trying to remember what Thorin taught about fighting with a broadsword. I couldn't stab the basilisk, but needed to chop their heads off. If you don't do it right you wound them but not fatally. It took a couple of tried to finish off two of them. As soon as I was done with one another one was there. The last one fled and I cut off its tail but that just enraged it and it bit me as I was trying to finish it off.

"Mr. Potter, I would have died except for Albus stunning them and the phoenix tears."

Harry complimented Scorpius. "You are a hero for what you did, Scorpius. I am very proud of you."

Scorpius shook his head. "I do not think I want to make a career of being a hero. I only did it because there wasn't much of a choice. I was terrified the whole time."

"You had every reason to be terrified, Scorpius," Harry agreed. "Heroes lose their lives all too often. Don't go off on your own again, please. Ask for help. I don't want any dead heroes."

"I'm proud of you, Scorpius," Rose muttered.

"Thanks," Scorpius replied.

Harry looked around, and then said, "Theodore, please photograph this scene.

"Oliver, please put the basilisk into one of the body bags. Its fangs are probably still poisonous, and I don't trust its stare, even though it is dead. Photograph and then put the rest of the basilisk into body bags.

"We need to go into the Chamber and bring out the bodies at least. Nott, Oddpick, lead the way. The rest of you, follow with the body bags. Take plenty of photographs to document the scene before putting a body in the body bag."

Rose yelled, "Be careful! Basilisk like to eat rotten meat, and there is something in their poison to cause bodies to rot and stink right away. I read somewhere that touching basilisk venom can be very dangerous. Even basilisk dung can be dangerous, and smell."

Theodore Nott brought out a small bag and enlarged it. He pulled out whitish garments. "These are magically treated garments to keep you safe. We will wear these to keep any basilisk venom or dung or anything from getting on us."

"We can go with them," Albus volunteered when he saw his father's frustration at the team that was going to be going into the Chamber.

"It is not like we cannot defend ourselves," Scorpius bragged, standing up with the Sword of Gryffindor in his hands.

"Let Auror Nott go first," Harry instructed the students. "Put on the magic garments before going in, and make sure they are on and sealed before touching anything, and be careful! Do any of you teachers want to follow my team?"

None of the Slytherin teachers volunteered. Minerva McGonagall looked at Olivia Ollivander with fire in her eyes, snapping, "Go with them, professor Ollivander, or go pack your bags. Go with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement people, and let the students follow.

"Sometimes I miss Servius Snape. He had courage, unlike our current crop of Slytherin professors."

Professor Olivia Ollivander donned the protective garment, obviously unhappy.

Theodore Nott led the procession, and after the adults Albus, Cleo, Scorpius and, to everyone's surprise, Orion Ollivander, went into the corridor. They stopped at the first body. The head was mostly intact, and Albus guessed, "I think that is Archana Lucy."

Orion nodded his head, confirming that is was Archana.

"The smell is coming from there," Theodore observed, pointing to Archana's lower body, where the basilisk had eaten a hole and the body looked rotten. "I've seen a few dead people, but never one that smelled that bad that quickly."

Going a little further into the chamber they found three more bodies, all with glasses off, two with evidence of bite marks. All were partly eaten, and beginning to decompose where the basilisk had feasted. They took plenty of photographs. Oliver Oddpick knew the spells to use to try and find evidence of magic. Oliver had been to many crime scenes, but always after other Aurors or Department of Magic Law Enforcement personnel had secured the scene. He did his best to magically document the scene where each body was found, working with Theodore Nott, who was experienced. The other DMLE people, professor Ollivander, and the students just did as they were told. Finally, they removed the bodies, and then did cleaning and disinfection spells over the areas where the bodies were found.

Once everyone was out of the chamber, Harry told Albus, "Close that door, and do not open it until we have a team here."

"Yes, sir," Albus replied.

"Once you found out you could open the door; you should have called for help!" Harry emphasized.

Albus nodded.

Harry called Mary Lou Creevey, who was at home but 'on call.' She expected Harry to call her.

"Mary Lou, I need you to contact the parents of the students who went missing," he explained. "I want them at my office in the Ministry at nine-thirty. Tell them that there have been some developments in the case, and I want to talk to them."

"If they ask what is going on, what should I tell them?" Mary Lou asked.

"The truth, that neither Harry nor anyone else has told you anything," Harry replied.

Harry then contacted Kingsley Shacklebolt. "The four missing students were in the Chamber of Secrets," Harry explained. "Someone, I am almost sure it was Tom Riddle Hanley, was raising basilisk, and it looks like the six basilisk killed them, probably Saturday. Albus and his friends found a way into the chamber tonight, and we have recovered the bodies. The bodies are in rough shape. There is something in basilisk venom to cause bodies to rot and stink right away. I am going to meet with the parents and tell them at nine-thirty tonight. I thought you might like to be there. I do not want anyone else to know what is going on until we talk to the parents."

"I will be at your office before nine-thirty," Kingsley confirmed.

"I need to be with you as well," Minerva McGonagall informed Harry.

"You do," Harry agreed. "I need to call Ginny and let her know what is happening too."

Harry used his mobile to call Ginny.

"Are Albus and his friends safe?" Ginny asked when she saw the call was from Harry.

"Yes, they are safe," Harry replied. "I cannot say the same for the missing students. TR Hadley seemed to think he could safely raise basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. Albus and his friends have found another way into the chamber, but when we inspected the chamber we found all four students dead. Do not tell anyone until I am home. It may be a long night."

"Be safe yourself, and tell me about it when you get home," Ginny replied She rubbed her forehead. She thought James was the reckless one… God help them if Lily started to get deliberately reckless. Lily was just careless.

* * *

Before his father left, Albus told Harry, "Delores Hanley knew there were six basilisks, and that her brother and sister were in the Chamber of Secrets. Her brother Lucius knew as well, and told his sister to shut up. Someone should talk to Delores."

"I will tell Professor McGonagall, Albus. This could be very helpful information," Harry replied.

* * *

Harry had the parents sit on one side of a table in his office. Niles and Tabitha Hanley sat in the middle, with Archana Lucy's parents on one side and Tom Higgy's parents on the other. Harry sat on the other side, flanked by Minerva McGonagall and Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"WHERE are our children!" Niles demanded.

"We have thought for some time there was another way into the Chamber of Secrets," Harry started out with,

"What does this have to do with our children? Tell us now where they are," Niles demanded.

"QUIET!" Harry yelled. "I will put a silencing charm on you if you don't listen, Niles." The man sat back with a huff of aggravation, glaring at this half blood upstart.

"As I said, we thought there was another way into the Chamber of Secrets, and that Tom Riddle Hanley was using it. We also knew that for the first time since the time of Tom Riddle there were basilisk around. They killed two centaurs last spring. We believe we have found the entrance, and have killed four basilisks. Before going any further into the chamber we need to know if there are any more."

"Where are our children?" Mrs. Higgy cried.

"Tell us what you know about the Chamber of Secrets, so we can be safe going in there, and find your children," Harry demanded. "What is going on in there? How many basilisks do we have to worry about?"

Tabitha mumbled, "Six, I think."

Niles glared at his wife, who shrunk away from him.

Mrs. Higgy volunteered, "Tom said that the Hanley's were onto something really big, but they couldn't talk about it."

Mrs. Lucy added, "Archana hinted at something big too, but said that it really scared her. She wasn't sure she wanted to be involved. When I asked what it was she would not tell me anything more."

Harry stood up and motioned to some people standing outside his office. When they came in he said, "Please take Niles and Tabitha to separate rooms." They protested, but were quickly led out of Harry's office.

Harry sat back down, and looked at the two remaining parents. "I am sorry I had to do that," he apologized. "I was reasonably sure Niles and maybe Tabitha knew something, but needed to confirm it.

"We found the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. There were six basilisks, and they were all killed. Once we entered the chamber we found your students and the Hanley's dead, partially eaten, decomposing. I am sorry I had to tell you this way.

"Please, if you know anything else, let us know."

The two families stayed another half hour, asking more about their children. Neither of them knew any more about what TR Hanley had been doing. Minerva told them that what was left of their bodies would be delivered to them tomorrow.

Once the two sets of parents left, Harry called a brief staff meeting with a few people he had called in. Gary Blackburn and Lavender Brown Blackburn were two of the people in the Domestic Affairs department of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Harry told them, "Please work with Tabitha Bainbridge Hanley. I think Niles may be abusing her, or at least dominating her. We need her to tell us what she knows about what her oldest son did without fearing her husband."

"How long can you hold them?" Lavender asked.

"I am thinking of charging them as accessories to manslaughter, to hold them a few days at least," Harry explained. "I am almost certain that Tom Riddle Hanley told his father what he was doing, so he would be allowed to stay in school and take such a low class load and not do very well in his classes. I have no idea how much Tabitha knows."

"I'm afraid you are going to have to release them tomorrow," Kingsley Shacklebolt told Harry. "I think that Niles knows more than he will tell us, but I'm not sure how we can prove it."

* * *

"I am holding you and Tabitha overnight, Niles," Harry told the furious man in the comfortable cell. "Tomorrow you need to tell us all you know about what your oldest son has been doing, in the Chamber of Secrets and what else your son has been doing. Tom Riddle Hanley is responsible for his own death and the deaths of five other beings, his sister and two classmates, and two centaurs. If those beasts had been set lose in the school, they could have killed who knows how many students. This sort of nonsense has to stop!"

"I don't believe you, you arrogant son of a dementor. I do not owe you and your kind anything," Niles scoffed. "I'm telling you nothing. You have no proof that I did anything wrong.

"I will not believe your lies about my children and the Chamber of Secrets unless I see this hidden way in myself. If it is true, I will make sure you pay for holding a grieving father and mother."

Harry turned and walked out of the holding area. He hoped that Lavender and Gary Blackburn would have more luck with Tabitha.

2020


	17. Ch 17 The Day After

Ch 17 The Day After

Minor changes by Deb, my beta, this time.

* * *

(Thursday morning) May 5

It was one in the morning, and Ginny Potter could not get to sleep. Harry would come back frustrated, needing to talk. He was also going to need some loving or he wasn't going to be able to go to sleep.

Ginny giggled. Harry was a good lover, and usually took his time playing with all the parts of her body that turned her on, which was pretty much all of her. Harry was small and not particularly muscular, but he was FIT. All her brothers were a little thick around the middle, Ron more than a little thick, but the exercise program that Harry had instituted for Aurors had kept him thin in the middle and very fit. He was a good person too, and usually took his time pleasing her.

Tonight would be about Harry, though.

Ginny felt down her body, from her breasts to her tummy to her hips. She was far from fit. All her mother's ancestors had put on weight when they had become mothers, and she sure had. The potions that were supposed to make her curvier had worked too well. She was actually a little thinner in the middle, although she was far from thin. When she was at the end of her pregnancy with Minerva she was too big on top, and Harry could still get lost in her ample bosom. Of course more of the extra weigh went to her already substantial hips. She would lose some of the excess on top when she stopped nursing, but she LIKED nursing. It was complex with her schedule, and it could get messy at times, but it felt good. She guessed it was more of the excess of femininity that she shared with her mother. Minerva liked to nurse, even though she was drinking from a cup. Harry liked her breasts, and gladly helped her empty them when intercourse would make them squirt.

Ginny guessed, was reasonably sure after all these years of marriage, that intercourse tonight would be a little frantic, with her working to please Harry. It wasn't the same as Harry taking his time. The pleasure was different. It was the satisfaction of knowing that after intercourse, after love making, that it was making love to Harry letting him, helping him, climax and then relax and go to sleep,

Harry arrived home well after one in the morning, exhausted and frustrated.

"Albus and his friends found the Chamber of Secrets," Harry complained as he sat at the end of the bed, his head in his hands, "and instead of immediately calling for help, went in. Scorpius, with Albus's help, killed six basilisk. Damn it all, they should have called for help as soon as they could see that door starting to open. I don't like heroics. Too many people get hurt or killed."

Harry rubbed his face and started to undress.

"Take a quick shower and come to bed, Harry," Ginny suggested as she moved behind him and rubbed his shoulders. She was worried about Albus and his friends, too, but there was nothing she could do about them at the moment. What she could do is take care of Harry, and as wound up as he was, sleep would not come easily.

Harry took his shower, and walked into the bedroom naked. Ginny was naked, with the bed coverings at the bottom of the bed. Harry climbed into the bed and put his head between Ginny's breasts. She held him, and they turned so they were side by side. He moved up, kissing her, and she responded. Harry felt Ginny's soft, feminine shape, and started to relax. Most of him relaxed; his man parts were rather excided.

Ginny guided him into her, and he did his best to please her, trying to hold off but climaxing too soon. Well, Ginny thought, if it was too soon for an orgasm at least she had enough of a climax to sleep herself. That's all she needed tonight, to know that Harry was going to be able to go to sleep.

"That was fantastic, Harry," Ginny moaned. "That's what you and I needed. Relax, sleep."

Ginny went to sleep satisfied, knowing that Harry had relaxed, and was sleeping.

* * *

Despite the short night sleep, Harry was up early and in the office before the start of the normal work day. The first thing he did was call Cindy Base Hudson, the publicist that the Ministry, especially Harry, regularly used.

"I'm guessing something bad happened at Hogwarts, Harry," Cindy guessed.

"I am going to take you and Henry there, and tell you the story," Harry explained. "We need to frame the story a certain way. Come to the office, and we will go to Hogwarts together."

Harry and the Hudsons' took a Floo to the Hogsmeade branch of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Ron more or less ran the store, although he had plenty of help when students were there on Hogsmeade weekends and holidays. There was almost always a clerk at the store, so Ron was free to leave if he had to. There was also a small Department of Magic Law Enforcement/Auror office separate from the store but attached. There were two Department of Magical Law Enforcement officers, a husband and wife, who lived in Hogsmeade and manned the office, although usually it was empty as the DMLE officers patrolled and talked to the inhabitants of the village and the shop keepers. The store and DMLE office shared a restricted Floo connection.

Harry and the Hudsons were met by Ron and the DMLE couple. "What happened at Hogwarts, Harry?" Ron demanded. "I know it is big or you would not have had your team here last night. No one will say anything."

"I had to notify the parents first," Harry explained. "I've told you about Tom Riddle Handley disappearing, and also about trying to find a second way into the Chamber of Secrets. It looks like TR Handley had found a second way in, and was raising basilisks. We are reasonably sure he wanted to kill people he did not consider pure, but instead killed himself, his sister, and two other students."

"Was Rose involved?" Ron snapped.

"Do you have time to come with us?" Harry inquired. "I am going to tell the whole story to the Hudson's, and you can hear it at the same time."

"Just a moment," Ron replied. He pulled out his Magic/Muggle mobile and placed a call. "Hi, Angelina. Can you meet with those vendors from China without me today? … I should be back after lunch, so if they are not coming until noon just have lunch with them, and I should see you right after lunch. … Auror business. I will tell you about it later."

Ron turned to Harry and told him, "I am free until right after lunch."

Harry and his entourage met the DMLE officer stationed at the Hogsmeade gate to Hogwarts, and she promptly let all of them in. Harry explained about TR Handley and their suspicions as they entered the castle and went down towards the Slytherin dormitory. Harry explained what had happened as Henry took photographs of the doorway and corridor, and of Harry telling the story of what had happened to Cindy.

"I would like to get photographs of the students," Henry told Harry. "It would be good to get photographs of the open door as well."

"I hate to get them out of classes," Harry replied. "I know the Auror department has some you could use. I have no idea how to get that door open again, but the Auror department has photographs of the open door, and of some of what is inside."

"It sounds like Scorpius is the real hero of this story," Cindy remarked.

"It took all three of them, Albus, Cleo, and Scorpius, to kill the basilisk, but it is fine to portray Scorpius as the hero," Harry agreed. "The most important thing, as far as I am concerned, is to portray Tom Riddle Hanley as the villain. He is the one responsible for the deaths of his sister and the other two, plus the deaths of the centaurs. Who knows how many Magi he was planning to kill, planning to have the basilisks kill? I would like the story to read 'TR Hadley was obviously planning on having the basilisks kill a large number of innocent people, but his dastardly plan backfired on him, and he ended up killing his self, his sister, and the children of two other prominent families."

"Sympathy for his family?" Cindy asked.

"Sympathy for the other two families," Harry argued. "I do not think this plot started and ended with TR Handley. I do not want any quotes from me, but I would not mind if people started to question what Niles Handley knew about what his son was doing."

"A job for Rita Skeeter?" Cindy wondered.

Harry smiled, but did not say anything.

* * *

Mid-morning Harry met with Gray and Lavender (Brown) Blackburn back at his office in the Ministry.

"There is a streak of meanness in some of the old families," Lavender explained. "I've seen just enough evidence to guess that six of the families have something going on that causes the men to be mean, and not to value lives other than the lives of a few so called pure blooded families. The male heirs do not always seem to be affected by it when they first enter Hogwarts, but if they are not mean when they enter Hogwarts, by the middle of their years there something changes. If I had to guess, the families include a branch of the Bulstrode, Hanley, Lestrange, Malfoy, Rosier and Yaxley families. Not all of the members, either. Just one branch, usually the oldest male branch.

"Tabitha did not know much more than she told you. She knew her son was involved in some plot, and that basilisks were involved. She had heard something about the Chamber of Secrets, but was not sure if TR had found a way in. She is reasonably sure that Niles is more involved than he will admit, but she says that Niles keeps plenty of secrets from her.

"Niles mostly let Tabitha raise the children when they were little, but he has dominated them all. He has not been real mean, but I do not gather it is the most loving family either. Niles is beyond furious now. We gave Tabitha a Personal Protective Elf to stay with her for the time being."

Harry was reasonably sure there was some big, not nice, secret that those six families were hiding, but he had not been able to figure out what it was.

* * *

"What happened last night?" Patty Finnigan asked Cleo and Rose as the girls arose Thursday morning. "We heard all sorts of wild stories."

"We found the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets," Cleo casually announced.

"Scorpius Malfoy killed six basilisks!" Rose breathlessly proclaimed. "They were HUGE, two to three meters long at least, and this big around."

Rose used her hands to make a circle about eight to ten inches (twenty to twenty-five centimeters) in diameter. "He killed them, but not before they killed TR and Bellatrix Handley, Archana Lucy and Tom Higgy. Were they killed Saturday, the day they disappeared? You were in with the Aurors, Cleo."

"They think so," Cleo replied, thinking that the basilisk, although big, were not quite as big as Rose was describing them. Cleo continued, thinking about the horrible shape of the four bodies, "The Aurors thought they had been dead about that long. They sure smelled awful! All four of the Slytherin students had been partially eaten as well. It was a terrible scene."

Rose explained, "They should not have smelled that bad, but basilisk have something in their venom to rot meat quickly."

"Was it exciting, Cleo, Rose?" Hanna wondered.

"At first it was just Albus and Scorpius in the corridor, because only Slytherin students could get in, except for Cleo," Rose answered. "Cleo, how come you could go in? You were the only person not in Slytherin who could go in."

"I was with Albus," Cleo remarked, as if that would explain it, which it didn't.

Rose continued, "They were not in the corridor very long before Scorpius chased a basilisk out of the corridor, cut off its tail, then cut off its head. The basilisk bit him, but Albus had the phoenix come and heal the bite."

Rose continued to talk a little about the previous night as Gryffindor students went to breakfast. Cleo seemed reluctant to say much more.

* * *

"What happened last night?" John Nott asked Albus and Scorpius as the students in the Slytherin second year boys' dormitory were getting ready to go to breakfast. "Before I could see anything we were sent back into the dormitory and told not to leave. Did you really find a way into the Chamber of Secrets? Did you find Tom and Bellatrix, Archana, Tom Higgy?"

"We think the passage we found is a way into the Chamber of Secrets," Albus confirmed. "Your father said it looked like the description of the Chamber he had read about."

"My father was there?" John shrieked. "How come he didn't see me?"

"We were pretty busy," Albus replied. "Only Slytherins' seem to be able to get into the corridor, and so your dad was the lead Auror."

"Did you REALLY kill a basilisk with a sword?" Mack Goyle yelled, swinging his arms around like he was wielding a sword. "That must have been wicked exciting!"

Scorpius admitted, "It was six basilisks actually, and it was terrifying."

"You are better than Snakeslayer Longbottom," Mack proclaimed. "He only killed one snake. Where did you get the sword?"

"Thorin loaned it to me," Scorpius explained as the boys left the dormitory. "From what I understand the snake that Professor Longbottom killed was huge. These were just little snakes, well not that little but not huge either."

By this time most of the Slytherin students were out in the corridor heading towards the Great Hall and breakfast.

"MAKE WAY FOR SNAKESLAYER MALFOY," Mack yelled.

"This is really embarrassing," Scorpius whispered to Albus, as more of the Slytherin students took up the chant. Other students were talking among themselves, trying to figure out what was going on. By the time the bulk of the Slytherin students were in the Great Hall most of them had heard some version of the story. When Scorpius sat down someone started to applaud, and the chanting died down as most of the Slytherin students applauded.

Professor McGonagall stood up and asked for quiet. "You are probably wondering what happened last night," she started. "It appears that Tom Hadley found a way into the Chamber of Secrets. He was raising basilisks in the chamber. Over the weekend it appears he took his sister Bellatrix into the chamber, along with Archana Lucy and Tom Higgy.

"Last night Cleopatra Smith and the Elf Galadriel found the entrance into the chamber. Albus, Cleopatra and Scorpius went into the chamber, Scorpius with the Sword of Gryffindor, and Scorpius did kill six basilisks. We called in the Aurors, and they found the bodies of TR Handley, his sister Bellatrix, Archana Lucy and Tom Higgy.

"I want to emphasize that as soon as Albus and his friends found a doorway that started to open they should have called for help. I do not want any students going around trying to be heroic. We lost too many heroes during the last war, many of them my friends, good people.

"The entrance to the Chamber is guarded. Only Slytherin students should go to their dormitory until further notice, and Slytherin students should not go past the entrance to their dormitory to get close to the entrance."

Scorpius and Albus had a hard time finishing their breakfast as one student after another tried to talk to them.

* * *

At lunch Al, Cleo and Scorpius were told they were going to eat with a guest in a private dining room. Rose followed Cleo, and was allowed to eat with the group. Lavender Brown Blackburn met with the group. "I understand that Delores Handley knew something about the Chamber of Secrets and the basilisks," she started.

"She was as far away from the corridor as she could have been, and still see what was going on," Rose remarked. "She seemed to know how many basilisks there were. She was ready to tell us more, I think, until her little brother Lucius told her to shut up."

Lavender talked to the students about the dynamics of Slytherin as they ate their lunch. When they were finished Lavender told the students not to talk to anyone about what they said in their meeting. Lavender then found Delores, told her she was going to be excused from class, and spent the afternoon talking to her.

* * *

Thursday right after lunch Harry and Minerva met at the door to the Chamber of Secrets.

"I want to look at what is beyond this door Saturday, when students and staff can help," Harry said. "I would like to find a way through those wards."

"I am not sure who can open that doorway," Minerva observed. "We do know that Albus and his friends can."

"It looks like Albus and his friends are going to have to be involved, then," Harry sighed. "I had hoped that none of my children would have to be involved with adventures like I was, not dangerous ones." Minerva patted him on the shoulder in sympathy.

* * *

Thursday afternoon Cindy appeared on the Wizarding Wireless Network and Wizarding Television Network, breaking into the regular programming. She read from a prepared statement.

"There have been student deaths at Hogwarts.

"Tom Riddle Hanley was an eighth year student at Hogwarts. He had been disappearing for significant periods of time, and now it appears that he had found a secret entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, the private area Salazar Slytherin made for himself. Tom was apparently using the Chamber of Secrets to raise six basilisks. People who know him guess that he wanted the basilisks to kill Muggle born and others he did not consider 'pure.'

"Tom, his sister Bellatrix, and two other students, Archana Lucy and Tom Higgy, apparently went into the Chamber of Secrets with him sometime last Saturday. They were discovered dead last night, when Albus Potter and his friends found the secret entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Scorpius Malfoy, with the help of Albus Potter, used the Sword of Gryffindor to kill all six of the basilisk.

"The investigation into what happened is still ongoing. If you have any information concerning this incident, or what else TR Hadley and the others were trying to do, please contact the Department for Magical Law Enforcement."

The Evening Prophet and the Wizarding Television Network carried the story with photographs of the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. They also had a photograph of Scorpius Malfoy with the Sword of Gryffindor and a dead basilisk.

* * *

Thursday late in the afternoon Harry was in his office when he was told that they had released Niles and Tabitha Hanley, and conveyed the bodies of their oldest children to them. Harry was told that Niles was furious when he realized that Tabitha had a Personal Protective Elf with her. At a meeting afterwards the people who had tried to get information from Niles told everyone that Niles was not telling them anything. Lavender told the group, "Tabitha does not know much. She knew that Tom, with the support of Niles, was planning something, and that it involved a secret room or chamber and the basilisks. Tabitha was scared of Tom trying to work with or control basilisks, but she is afraid of her husband, and could not say anything that could be interpreted as going against him.

"This afternoon I talked spent some time with Delores Handley, their daughter. She did have more information about what her older brother was doing. She is very upset with her father and everyone in the family except her mother. We may have to provide Tabitha and Delores safe housing."

"When he was detained I told Niles that he was off the Hogwarts board," Harry told the group. "Minerva and I have asked Theodore Nott to take his place, and Ted agreed. I thought Niles would turn into a basilisk when I told him he was off the board. He has just lost two children, and I'm having a very hard time feeling sorry for him."

"Niles is not a nice person," Gary Blackburn agreed. "Like you, Harry, I cannot prove it, but I am almost certain that Niles knew what his son was doing."

* * *

Ginny and Lily Luna were in the kitchen talking to the Elf Mabel about dinner, when Harry came home via the Closet Network. Harry stormed out of the closet, slamming the door, a little of the green powder that the Floo Network and the Closet Network shared floating into the air.

"Niles Hanley," Harry groused. "I wish I had Al VanLente's vocabulary of swear words to describe the son of a boggart."

Ginny laughed, remembering the extensive vocabulary of swear words that the head of the International Aurors possessed.

Harry found himself laughing, despite his frustration.

"Did slamming the door help, Harry, Dear?" Ginny asked sweetly, her intentions broadcast by the big smirk on her lips.

Lily Luna added, "I know some swear words, if you want some help."

"I can see the headlines from Rita Skeeter now," Harry theorized. "Head Auror goes to his ten-year-old daughter for critical help when his urgently needed supply of swear words ran out."

Harry looked at his daughter. "Where did you learn swear words, Lily Luna Potter?"

"Oh, I have LOTS of older cousins, daddy. Besides, Fred Weasley's wife Miriam told me what she was saying as she was giving birth to Barack. I know swear words in two African languages."

Harry put his head in his hands. It was good to be home, with people who didn't take him too seriously.

"Did you see Albus today?" Ginny wondered, when the laughter died down.

"No, but Minerva and I are going to have to get the help of Albus and his friends to open that door again," Harry replied. "I told him yesterday that I do NOT want him opening that door until I have a full contingent of adults around."

"Albus is usually careful," Ginny reassured Harry. "I sure do not want any of our children to have to go through the things we did when we went to Hogwarts."

"We do not always get what we want," Harry observed, as the door to the Closet Network opened and Miriam walked out, a baby in each arm.

"I'm returning Minerva," Miriam said as she handed baby Minerva to Harry. Barack lunged for Harry as well, but Miriam held on tightly to her son.

"Da Da Da Da," Minerva squealed in delight. Looking at Lily, "Li Li Li Luuu."

"How quickly they forget the mother who bore then and fed them," Ginny mockingly complained to Miriam.

Minerva wiggled to get down, stood looking at the table, and then quickly crawled over to the table. Standing up, she looked at her mother and said, "EEEE."

Ginny lifted her up into a high chair and gave her a teething biscuit.

"I understand you helped Lily expand her repertoire of swear words, Miriam," Harry interjected.

Miriam just grinned. "See you Sunday morning?" Miriam asked.

"As far as I know," Ginny confirmed, as Miriam took her leave of the Potters.

Harry looked at his three girls, content. It was good to be home.

2020


	18. Ch 18 Secrets of The Chamber of Secrets

Ch 18 Secrets of The Chamber of Secrets

* * *

Friday, May 6, the morning the Daily Prophet arrived, with a big headline, **Scorpius Malfoy Kills Six Basilisks.** Underneath that was a smaller headline, _Scorpius, Albus Potter and their friends discover a way into the Chamber of Secrets._

The Daily Prophet featured a photograph of Scorpius standing proudly with the Sword of Gryffindor in his hand, the dead two-meter-long basilisk with its head and tail cut off at his feet.

Throughout the day students stopped Scorpius to congratulate him. Scorpius knew killing the basilisks was a joint effort, but his attempts to say so were interpreted as humility. It was only in Slytherin that some students seemed to treat him as someone who had done something wrong instead of something heroic.

Albus apologized to Cleopatra as soon as he saw her. "I am embarrassed that the newspaper did not highlight your part in finding the chamber, Cleo. I am sorry if I didn't stress enough how central you were to finding the chamber."

"That's all right, Albus," Cleo replied. "They didn't say anything about Galadriel's wand and how important it was to opening the door either. I think Scorpius needs to be the hero here." She looked over at her friend who shook his head.

"I do not deserve to be a big hero," Scorpius protested.

Albus countered putting his arm around Scorpius' shoulders, "You are sounding just like my dad. He says the papers give him credit for things the other Aurors do. Sometimes when people thank you, the only proper response is, 'you are welcome.' You did kill the basilisks, after all. We all know you had help, but just acknowledge the thanks and keep acknowledging the help." Scorpius just sighed but nodded his head in agreement.

* * *

Friday afternoon after classes Albus, Scorpius, Cleo and Rose were at the door to the Chamber of Secrets. Galadriel was with them, and Albus, Cleo and Galadriel all examined the charms on the doorway.

After a few moments of examining the mantel, Cleo asked, "Do these spells feel brittle to you?"

Galadriel replied, "A little unstable, maybe."

"What would happen if we put a hole in them, put a hole in the spell right at the doorway?" Albus wondered.

"How?" Galadriel asked.

The group thought for a few moments, when Rose remembered the other entrance and suggested, "With that drill that Auror used in Myrtle's bathroom?"

Albus nodded yes that could work.

Harry had assigned Department of Magic Law Enforcement personnel, usually a patrol officer, to stand guard over the doorway. The guard on duty told the students, "I am not sure how you could get permission to have Greg Cooper come with the drill."

"Oh, I'll just call my father," Albus casually replied. He proceeded to take out the fully functional Magic/Muggle mobile that he was not supposed to be using until he was a seventh year student, and rang up his father.

"Hi, dad.

"We are standing at the door to the Chamber of Secrets, and Cleopatra and Galadriel both think the spell keeping anyone but Slytherin from crossing the threshold are old and, Cleo calls them brittle, Galadriel calls them unstable. We should be able to drill through them."

…

"No, we have not opened the door. We are not going to until there are Aurors and other adults around.

"Tomorrow, after breakfast? We will be there.

"I do not think there is any reason for you to be here. You can get here quickly enough from the Potter/Weasley box at the Harpies game.

"I promise, dad, that we will not go in by ourselves. We will wait for you and the other adults.

…

"Thank you, dad. Good Bye."

* * *

Harry called Greg Cooper, the Auror who most often used the Magical/Muggle contraptions that Angelina's Angel Armor came up with, and explained the situation to him. Greg called Albus, and they agreed to meet Saturday morning.

* * *

Friday evening Narcissa Malfoy placed a Floo call to Molly Weasley, and then came over. "Can you have Harry Potter come over," Narcissa asked her friend.

Molly took out her Magic/Muggle mobile and placed a call. "Harry, could you come over to the New Burrow, please. Narcissa wants to talk to us. … I will tell her you will be her in about fifteen minutes."

"Would you like a cup of tea?" Molly asked Narcissa.

"Yes, please," Narcissa replied. She sat quietly drinking her tea, and Molly sat drinking tea with her, not pushing Narcissa to say anything until she was ready.

Harry came through the Floo about fifteen minutes after the phone call.

"Thank you for coming, Harry," Narcissa started. "About five this afternoon Niles Hanley came through the Floo, mad as a dragon who has had an egg stolen. He and Draco went into Draco's private office, what was Lucius's private office until he was sent to prison. About an hour later Draco came out of the office alone.

"Harry, I cannot read my son any more. Draco was upset, but why I cannot tell you. I don't like it that people go into that office and do not come out of it, or come out of it even though they have not entered. Just a few people, too."

"Do you remember who?" Harry asked.

"I think I do," Narcissa thought. "I think it would be William Bulstrode, Niles Hanley, Arthur Lestrange, James Rosier and Edward Yaxley. At least those are the five the last few years. Their fathers may have been the ones meeting with Lucius, and there has been a transition, I think. I think that the same thing was happening when Lucius and I were first married, with Lucius's father. I know that it is only men who have ever gone in and not come out, or come out without having gone in. Once in a while it is a father and son, but only after the son has graduated from Hogwarts."

"This is a tremendous help," Harry confirmed. "It may take a while, maybe even years, but this information confirms some other information. Thank you."

"You are most welcome, Harry," Narcissa said. "That is all I have for you."

"I'll leave you and Mum then," Harry replied. He kissed his mother-in-law and left through the Floo.

* * *

Saturday morning Greg Cooper and another person from the DMLE arrived at Hogwarts with the drill and a large container that said "80/20" on the side. They met Albus, Scorpius, Rose and Cleo in the corridor and they walked to the guard who was at the doorway of the Chamber of Secrets. Also present were Orion Ollivander, Galadriel and her sister Luthien, and Thorin the Goblin. Professor McGonagall was there, along with Gabriel Habsburg and his wife, Hermeli, the Aurors who lived in the Hogwarts castle. Professor Olivia Ollivander was also there, looking like she had been ordered to be there. Professor Ollivander was obviously not happy, showing it by glowering at the wall or the floor.

Gabriel Habsburg examined the closed door with his wand, and then told Albus, "You may open the door."

Everyone had their wands out, as Albus, Cleo and Galadriel put their wands up to the door and opened it.

"Olivia, go in and make sure nothing has changed," professor McGonagall ordered.

A surly professor Ollivander went into the corridor, and fifteen minutes later was out. "Everything looks the same," she griped. "Waste of time," she muttered under her breath. Minerva glared at her, and she flinched at Minerva's sharp look.

Once the professor was out, Greg looked at the open doorway, and examined it with his wand. He had Albus and his friends go through the doorway, and tried to himself. "I need to place the holes reasonably precisely," he explained, as he took out lengths of aluminum with joints and other gadgets.

"Is that a Muggle or a magical device?" Albus pondered as he watched the man work with the lengths of aluminum.

"The parts are mostly Muggle, but we can get custom lengths out of this package, and duplicate joiners and other things magically," Greg explained. "If I make a framework first I can more precisely place the holes."

Greg and his helper assembled an extruded aluminum framework the same size as the door, with devices on it to allow Greg to precisely hold the drill in position. Once Greg had drilled a big hole he could put his hand through it. He eventually drilled through the entire perimeter of the doorway, and once he had finished anyone could walk through the doorway.

There was a small portion of the doorway above the aluminum framework. Cleo asked for a chair to stand on, and once she was on the chair started to poke at the area above the framework, sometimes with her wand, sometimes just with her hand. Eventually Cleo remarked, "I think the spell is broken."

Cleo climbed off the chair, and Galadriel mounted it. After feeling around, she agreed.

The Aluminum framework had the magical drill bits all around it. Greg started to remove them, one at a time, as he and Rose tried to go into and out of the doorway. Apparently the spell was broken, because anyone could now go through the doorway and into the passageway, even after the magical drill holes were removed.

Greg took his Magic/Muggle Mobile out and called Harry.

"The spell is broken," Greg told his boss.

"Tell everyone that I will be there after lunch," Harry advised. "The game is not all that good, and Ginny doesn't need me here. I will meet my son and his friends, plus Minerva and other members of the staff, at the doorway about one-thirty."

"I'm going to pack up the framework I've set up and go home, then," Greg let Harry know.

* * *

After lunch Harry, Minerva, Professor Olivia Ollivander and Oliver Oddpick met with Albus, Rose, Scorpius and Cleopatra, plus the Elves Galadriel and Luthien and the Goblin Thorin, outside the door to the Chamber of Secrets. Orion Ollivander was also there, as, Albus explained, lead prefect in Slytherin. Gabriel Habsburg and his wife, Hermeli, the Hogwarts Aurors, were also there.

Harry was accompanied by Dobedo, his Elf shadow and guard, but also Jim Shook, the Auror in charge of guarding the Potter/Weasley family.

The assembled crowd slowly and carefully entered the chamber, the adults first. Harry let the Habsburg's go first, followed by Jim Snook.

"I have not led a raid since joining the Aurors, Albus," Harry told his son. "Prophesies say you will be important to the world of the Magi. Don't go first into these types of situations!"

"Yes, dad," Albus sighed. His father was right. They should have called for help once they found out that they could open that door.

They seemed to be entering via a back way. One door led to the imposing main chamber, with an oversized statue of Salazar Slytherin at one end. There was an underground stream running through the chamber, with fish swimming in it. Another door led to a room that had apparently been used to raise the basilisk. There were at least two passageways out of this room, one a tunnel just a little larger in diameter than the diameter of the basilisk, another one much smaller.

"How did the large basilisk eat and survive in here?" Harry pondered, looking at the size of the tunnel. He remembered the huge basilisk he had to kill.

Thorin looked at the tunnel, and examined it with his wand. He said something in Elfish to Galadriel, who also examined the tunnel. Then Thorin told the group, "There is some magic in both of these tunnels to attract small animals into them. I would guess that the original large basilisk survived for years with magic causing it to need very little to eat. There are also fish in the stream, and the basilisk could eat fish and drink water from the stream."

Behind the statue there was another room, behind a closed door. This door resisted the attempts of most people to open it, but eventually Galadriel, Thorin, and Albus used their wands together, and the door opened.

"Where did those wands come from?" Olivia Ollivander asked Galadriel and Thorin. "Who made them?"

"We have been ordered not to talk about our wands," Galadriel insisted, ignoring the Professor and moving her wand to hid it from her view.

"There are people in Switzerland who know about those wands," Harry confirmed as he moved to block the woman's view, "and the less said about them the better. Please do not ask again." He gave her a stern look of warning.

Professor Ollivander gave everyone there a dirty look. Professor McGonagall returned the look with one of her own. You could feel the tension between the two professors.

The room looked like a working office, with books and parchments. It also looked like it had been left in a hurry.

Harry and Minerva looked at some of the book titles, and shook their heads 'no.'

"Everyone out," Professor McGonagall ordered.

"Can you make it so Professor McGonagall and I can open this door?" Harry asked.

The three students put their wands up to the door. Galadriel then touched first Harry Potter's wand, and then Minerva McGonagall's. Both of them tried and succeeded in opening and closing the door.

"You should be able to allow other wands to open this door as well," Galadriel told Harry and Minerva. "We can do the same for the door to the chamber. Elves can Apparate into the Chamber of Secrets, but not so easily into this room.

Everybody spend about half an hour going over the rest of the Chamber, but did not find anything else significant. When everyone was in the hall, Harry closed the door, and then asked, "Can you please do the same thing for this door, make it so we can open it?"

"Yes, sir, Mr. Potter," Galadriel replied, and Galadriel proceeded to touch both Professor McGonagall's wand and the wand of Harry Potter. They all ignored Professor Ollivander's huff of aggravation.

* * *

After dismissing the rest of the people who had gone into the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter, Minerva McGonagall, and the Habsburgs met in Minerva's office, along with Sidney Stanford, the longtime professor of Defense against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts.

Harry started by observing, "I am sure I saw a well-used copy of 'Secrets of the Darkest Art' in that chamber. That book should not even be available in the restricted section of the library."

"That is not the only book that should be kept locked up and unavailable," Minerva muttered. "Some of those books were not all that old. Tom Riddle must have used that office."

"Who can we get to look over the material in that office?" Harry wondered.

"I do not want Ollivander near that room!" Minerva exclaimed. "Sidney, as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, you should be the one taking care of that material."

Sidney spent a moment seemingly pondering the situation, before confessing, "I have a whole bookcase of dark magic. A thousand years of Defense against the Dark Arts professors compiled dark spells and curses and the counter-spell or antidote. I think I have found all of them, but it has taken twenty years to find them all.

"I think I need to add this collection to the list. I am compiling a book of counter-curses. Harry and most of the Auror Departments in the world have copies, as do many of the Defense against the Dark Arts professors. The schools I trust have sent me curses and the counter-curse as well. I will have to admit I have not shared the information with a few schools that I do not trust."

"What happens if something happens to you?" Harry wondered.

"My wife knows all the spells to access the bookcase and information, and it is in our private quarters, not the classroom," Sidney told the group. "If something happens to both of us, Minerva has an envelope with information on where the bookcase is, and how to get into it."

Harry was the last to leave Minerva's office. Before he did, Harry mused, "Only someone from Slytherin could go into the chamber until the spell was broken."

"From what I could see," Minerva confirmed.

"Except for Cleopatra?" Harry asked.

Minerva looked at Harry, obviously puzzled.

"I want to ask the Sorting Hat if someone could be in more than one house," Harry proposed.

Minerva pointed out where the hat was stored, and Harry put it on.

"Mr. Sorting Hat," Harry said out loud. "Can someone be in more than one house?"

"What are you asking?" the Sorting Hat replied.

"Cleopatra was sorted into Gryffindor, but when there were wards protecting an area from everyone but Slytherin students she could go in. Is she in two houses?"

"Did she go in with Albus?" the hat asked.

"Yes," Harry replied.

"That explains it," the hat replied, and refused to say any more, much to Harry's annoyance.

"Does that explain it?" Harry asked Minerva when he could get no more from the hat.

"No," Minerva sighed. "Cleopatra is by far the strangest student I have encountered in all the years I have been at Hogwarts, and I taught Luna Lovegood and her father." The two had a fond chuckle at that.

* * *

"Dad would kill me if he knew I was going to church," Scorpius remarked as he headed to the Saturday evening church services with Albus. "I received an owl from grandmother Malfoy congratulating me for killing the basilisk, saying great-grandmother Black also was proud of me, but nothing from my father or his mother my great-grandmother Malfoy. It is like if I do anything good they are mad at me."

"At least you have some people at your house who love you and approve of what you do," Albus volunteered. "The Muggles my dad was raised with all hated him. Uncle Dursley is always apologizing for how he treated dad, but I don't think Uncle Dursley's mother has. I guess I saw her at Uncle Dursley's father's funeral, but not since. Uncle Dursley is married to a witch, and I am almost sure his children are going to be going to Hogwarts in a few years.

"I like Uncle and Aunt Dursley. I like their three children. We see then at the pond, and Perri, she is the oldest, she says they almost never see grandmother Dursley, and her grandmother hates magic."

"I like nice families," Cleo sighed. "That is what is so great about your family, Albus. You have a big, happy family!"

"Everybody has two grandparents except us," Albus noted, as he shook his head. "There are so many Weasley's it makes up for it, I guess, but it is still hard on dad sometimes."

"All I have is my grandmother Granger, and she is getting old," Rose remarked. "Muggles do not live as long as Magi."

"I hope I get to meet my family someday," Cleo muttered.

By this time, they were in the moderate sized room they used for Christian church services. Cleo played on her portable organ, and Albus played his guitar, for the services. They had assembled a small choir to lead the singing, but most of the songs were sung by the congregation.

When the service was finished, Scorpius and Rose went up to talk to Bishop Apollo Scherica. Scorpius asked, "What should I say when people try to make me a big hero for something, like, like killing the basilisk. Once I was there with the sword I really didn't have a choice."

"You stay humble," Apollo replied. "A wise Christian author, C.S. Lewis, said that humility did not consist in beautiful people saying they were ugly or smart people saying they were dumb. Humility is more an honest evaluation of ourselves, acknowledging the people who help us, and the people who taught us. Something like, 'I did not do it by myself, but thank you' is not a bad way to respond."

"I guess," Scorpius replied. "My father is upset unless I'm bragging, I think. He is not much for humility."

"I do not know his whole history," Apollo remarked, "but from what I know you have demonstrated more courage than your father ever did. Besides, you have good friends, and if you let them they will keep you humble."

"Thank you, Bishop Scherica," Scorpius declared. "I want to be good, and I think going to church and listening to the lessons her will help me be good."

As they walked away, Rose approved of what Scorpius had said. "I'm really proud of you, Scorpius, for working so hard to be good. It is easier when you are taught to be good. It has to be harder when you are taught something else."

2020


	19. Ch 19 The Hanley Family Breaks Apart

Ch 19 The Hanley Family Breaks Apart

Monday May 6, before dinner, Orion caught Albus's eye, giving him a look, and the two of them left the Slytherin dorm, one at a time, and met when they were alone in a hallway. Albus took Orion by a little used passage to a room that was unoccupied, and asked, "What is going on?" after the door closed behind them.

"Delores Hanley wants to talk to you," Orion replied. "In private. She does not want anyone else to know."

"Tell her that I can meet her the same way we are meeting,"

Albus thought for a few moments, then proposed. "Have her catch my eye tomorrow after dinner. I will leave shortly after she leaves, and catch up with her when no one else is around."

As was usual with these meetings, Albus and Orion came back to the Slytherin dormitory at different times.

The next night Delores Hanley looked at Albus, and he almost imperceptibly nodded to her.

Albus whispered to Scorpius, "I am leaving alone." Scorpius nodded that he understood.

Albus walked out of the dormitory and headed towards the main floor. Eventually he waited, but Delores was not in sight. Other people were around, so he kept on walking. Albus arrived at the door to the Main Hall when his Elf Frerin motioned for Albus to follow him. Albus went up two flights of stairs and headed towards the room where he and Orion had met. Once they were alone, Frerin told Albus, "Dis, Cleo's Elf, is leading Delores Handley here. I heard Orion talking to you, and noticed Delores and you. Elves that serve a master like you notice these things."

"I'm embarrassed that you have to watch me so carefully," Albus admitted, "but I am very glad you have."

"You did not chose to be famous or in danger," Frerin countered. "I chose this job. It makes me happy when I help you."

"Thank you," Albus replied.

A short time later Delores came into the room, following Dis, the Elf that usually shadowed Cleo.

"I see you followed Dis, Cleo's Elf," Albus remarked.

"It is like no one noticed the house elf," Delores observed when she saw Albus. "Thank you for sending her to lead me here."

"Have you introduced yourself?" Albus asked Dis.

"I am Dis, the Elf that usually shadows Cleopatra Desiree Smith," Dis responded, talking directly to Delores. "Thank you for following me."

"You said, 'follow me to Albus,'" Delores replied. "I do not usually notice house elves, but I have seen you with Albus and his girlfriend. I'm taking a big risk meeting Albus, but it may be riskier not meeting with Albus."

"I need to get back to Miss Cleopatra," Dis announced.

"You ought to thank Dis for bringing you here," Albus informed Delores.

"We were taught never to thank a house elf," Delores protested, looking at him in shocked confusion.

"That is just wrong!" Albus proclaimed. "They are Elves, getting paid and clothed, and not house elves, Delores. Even if they were house elves, however, it would not be wrong to thank them."

"Thank you, Dis," Delores told the Elf, marveling at the small joy it gave her to extend such simple kindness.

Dis smiled warmly at the girl and replied, "You are welcome." She then disappeared with a crack substantially quieter than normal for a house elf.

"I'm scared, Albus," Delores jumped right in with. "I am scared to talk to you, but I am even more scared of my father and brother."

"I know that the Ministry will make sure you do not have to go home if you are in danger there," Albus replied. "I've talked to my mother and father about bad parents and guardians. Would your father really hurt you?"

"The physical punishments are not too bad, and you get used to it," Delores confessed. "What really scares me is my brother telling me that if I was not totally on the side of TR and dad, if I even talked to you or the Aurors, there are people who would rape me and if that didn't work they would kidnap me and keep me prisoner. He said that girls that got out of line had that happen to them in the past. They are sent out of the country and forced to marry older men, or worse.

"Albus, I've already talked to Mrs. Blackburn, and I am terrified."

"I think I can take care of it," Albus replied, assuring the frightened girl.

Delores thanked Albus, and they parted ways.

Albus took out his map. He saw that the headmistress was in her office, so he went over to her office. He told the gargoyle guarding the office, "Mr. gargoyle guard, I know of a student that has been threatened and is in danger. May I talk to Professor McGonagall, please."

After a few minutes, the gargoyle opened the door and let Albus in.

Albus rode the staircase up to Professor McGonagall's office and peered in. The headmistress said, "Come in, Mr. Potter. The gargoyle says you have information on a student in danger." She motioning him to her desk

"May I show you my memory?" Albus inquired. "I just met with her, but if that is not enough I have a couple of additional memories."

Professor McGonagall pulled the pensive down, and motioned for Albus to sit on one side of it while she sat on the other. Albus pulled out the memory of his meeting with Delores. Albus and the professor both watched the memory without saying anything. When they were finished, Professor McGonagall asked, mentally listing all the people who she need to see, "May I have your permission to share this memory? I know several people who need to see it.

"I am also going to have the Elves, ghosts and paintings keep a close watch on Delores and her brother."

"Thank you, Professor," Albus beamed.

"You may go, Mr. Potter. I can take care of this now."

Albus arrived back at the dormitory just before 10:00 PM. Delores was sitting where she could see the door, and Albus smiled at her.

* * *

Minerva McGonagall summoned Gabriel and Hermeli Habsburg, the Aurors, and Plato, the head Elf since Aristotle had semi-retired. They all looked at Albus's conversation with Delores. When they left the Pensive, Hermeli looked at Minerva, suggesting, "You probably ought to call Albus's father."

Minerva sighed. "I hate to bother him after diner, but I agree. Harry needs to see this. The Domestic Affairs department should have a representative here as well."

A short time later first Harry, then Lavender Brown Blackburn, came into Minerva's office through her private Floo.

Without a preamble Minerva pointed to the Pensive. Harry and Lavender entered it, coming out with sober looks.

Harry looked over to Lavender, who remarked, "We have been working on getting Tabitha Hanley moved out, because of abuse that seems to be increasing. Niles is becoming increasingly violent. It looks like we are going to have to move Tabitha out of the house as soon as we can."

Gabriel volunteered, "Hermeli and I are going to be watching Delores closely. We are also going to have all the portraits watch for us. We have enlisted their help, and most of them are eager to be able to still contribute to the good of Hogwarts."

Plato added, "I have two Elves who I can assign to the room in the girl's dormitory in Slytherin where Delores sleeps, Jane and her daughter Sally. We can make sure Delores is watched. I can assign Sally temporarily as Delores's Elf, as long as Delores is at Hogwarts. That way Delores only has to mouth 'Sally' and Sally will be there. Sally is not going to be able to leave Hogwarts, unless Delores calls her and is in trouble."

"I will talk to Delores after dinner tomorrow," Lavender volunteered. "Part of being in the Domestic Affairs Office is often working nights. Harry does insist that we take time off when we can. I've put in a couple of twenty-hour week before the problems with Tabitha and Delores came up, but it's time for more hours, more nights."

* * *

"Tell me again why the Auror Department is involved in all these Domestic Affairs problems," Harry griped as he listened to the problems with Tabitha and her daughter Delores.

"Because domestic calls are some of the most dangerous calls a Department of Magical Law Enforcement officer can go on, Harry," Lavender insisted.

Harry shook his head. "I know. I know. I was mistreated badly by Vernon Dursley, and Dudley, although Dudley has apologized. I don't want any children, but especially the children of Magi we are responsible for, to suffer like I did. You can have all the help you need to rescue Tabitha, and to make sure that Niles and his son do not try and capture Tabitha or Delores."

* * *

Monday May thirteenth Ginny was at the New Burrow talking to her mother when her Magic/Muggle mobile rang. "Harry, why the call?"

"I've been telling you about Niles Hanley, and how his wife Tabitha was becoming more and more concerned. We sent her back with a Personal Protective Elf, and she and the Elf want her to move out. Their daughter Delores wants to go live with her mother. Niles scares her too.

"We are putting then in one of the apartments at Six Grimmauld Place. I thought you might want to be one of the people welcoming her to the neighborhood."

"I would like that, Harry," Ginny responded.

"Cho says you should take the Floo to 'Six Grimmauld Place.' She will make sure you can get in."

Ginny turned to her mother. "Mother dear, could you take care of the baby so I can help Harry," Ginny cooed in an exaggerated and a little bit snarky tone, "now that I have some children."

Molly laughed. She remembered a Christmas scene years ago when she agreed to a newly married Ginny about taking care of Ginny's children 'when she had some.' Ginny had fulfilled that desire; Minerva was her fourth child.

"I do not know what you did to produce an easy going and easy to take care of child, but I would be delighted," Molly replied.

Ginny and her Elf aid Mitzi took the Floo to Six Grimmauld Place. There to greet her were Cho Chang, Lavender Brown Blackburn, Tabitha Bainbridge Hanley and her daughter Delores Hanley. There was also an Elf in a Department of Magical Law Enforcement uniform.

"Hello, Ginny," Cho chirped. "I am very glad you could come. Who is taking care of baby Minerva?"

"My mother," Ginny cheerily replied, grateful that she and Cho had finally become somewhat friendly. "Mum is surrounded by children and people who take care of children and school them, and loves it. Even thou there is a group here in this block that does the same thing, I think I will keep taking her to her grandmother."

"I want to introduce you to Tabitha Bainbridge Hanley and her daughter Delores, Ginny," Lavender began. "The Domestic Affairs Unit has been working with them ever since her oldest son and daughter were found dead at Hogwarts. Rescue is the Personal Protection Elf we assigned to her.

"We had Delores leave school so she could see where she was going to be living, and so there was no chance of her having to go home to her father and younger brother. We may have her ride the Hogwarts Express with Albus and Rose, since they will be coming here.

"You are the most senior person here, at least in terms of having lived in this neighborhood the longest. We thought you could give Tabitha and Delores an introduction to the neighborhood."

"Where are they going to be living?" Ginny wondered. "Maybe that would be a good place to start."

"The upstairs apartment," Lavender replied. "Fourth floor."

The group went up from a basement kitchen and eating area to a main floor with an office and a couple of meeting rooms, and then to four floors of apartments.

"The fourth floor has one of the nicer apartments," Lavender explained. "The only problem is that it is on the fourth floor."

"It is nowhere near as many stairs as Hogwarts," Delores countered. The adults laughed, remembering all the stairs in Hogwarts.

The apartment had two adequate sized bedrooms, a common bath, and an open living area that included a kitchenette and a couple of desks, plus comfortable casual seating.

"We try to have all the women and children living here eat at least one meal a day together," Lavender explained. "I am sure Tabitha and Delores will want to share some meals not in the larger group as well."

The living area looked over the gardens in the back, and there was a small porch outside a door that led outside. Ginny led Tabitha and Delores out to the porch. "All the house you can see are owned by Magi," Ginny started, pointing to the various houses as she spoke. "The last one was purchased just last year. The block consists of thirty addresses, one to fifteen Grimmauld Place, and one to fifteen NewBright Street. The garden areas in the back are not exactly common property, but they have been managed as if they were for years.

"Henry Granger and his wife Lilly live with their family in One Grimmauld Place. His family has owned that property for years, although Henry and Lilly moved in after we did. They also own two and three Grimmauld Place, each of which has two units, and one to four NewBright Street, all of which are apartments. I guess they own the garages at that end of the block, but anyone can park an automobile or bicycles or other things there. The garage goes underground and is huge.

"Four to six Grimmauld Place are owned by a foundation, and house women and children who are leaving bad situations, and who do not have another good place to go."

"The Harry and Ginny Potter Foundation," Lavender butted in with.

Ginny just shrugged her shoulders. She never wanted to brag about the charitable work she and Harry did, and never knew how to answer these type of comments. She just plowed on.

"Seven Grimmauld Place is owned by the same foundation, and houses men.

"Eight to thirteen Grimmauld Place are private houses. We live at twelve, and my brother Ron Weasley and his wife Hermione Granger-Weasley live at thirteen. Hermione is not closely related to the Henry Granger family, if you wondered. Fourteen is an Elf house, with living quarters but also offices for the large group of Elves that work for the family and that work for the businesses my brother Bill runs. Finally, fifteen Grimmauld Place is owned by Harry's cousin and business partner, along with my brother Bill, Dudley Dursley, Dudley's wife Belinda and their children."

Tabitha looked confused, wondering, "I thought all these houses were owned by Magi. I'm sure I read that Harry's cousin is a Muggle."

"He is married to a witch who is also an engineer," Ginny explained. "Their children are magical."

"Dudley's wife drives a train?" Tabitha asked, obviously puzzled.

"No, a different kind of engineer," Ginny corrected, realizing that she knew much more about the Muggle world than many of the Magi, and certainly more than Tabitha.

"Five to fifteen NewBright Street are all owned by or inhabited by people in Law Enforcement, many Aurors, and other people who work for the Ministry. Lavender and her husband and children live at six NewBright Street."

"We have the cellar kitchen that looks out onto the garden," Lavender explained, "plus the main floor and the first and second floors. There is another apartment on the third and fourth floors."

"There is another garage at that end of the street," Ginny explained, pointing towards the Dursley house. "Because of the garages, no one can see or get into the garden areas without going through one of the houses. They have even build apartments above the garages to block the inside of the block from Muggle eyes. This block is guarded as well as Hogwarts, probably guarded better than the Ministry."

"I think there is going to be a neighborhood party next Saturday night, Tabitha," Lavender told Tabitha. "Not everybody will be there, but it will be a good way to meet some of the neighbors."

"Is your husband in Law Enforcement, Cho?" Tabitha wondered. "Do you live here too?"

"Merlin, no!" Cho emphasized. "He and his family own some apartment buildings, with mostly Muggle tenants, and he helps manage and maintain them. The worst think he fights is balky drains. We live in one of the apartments the family owns."

* * *

Tuesday morning May fourteenth the headline in the Daily Prophet was:

 **Handley Family Drama** _  
Tabitha Bainbridge Handley moves out with her daughter Delores. Blames her husband for the death of their older children._

The Rita Skeeter expose went on to say that Tabitha and Delores were going to be living in a secure safe house. There was much "we heard" or "we think" in the article, and it was difficult to know how much of it was true and how much of it was speculation, typical of Rita Skeeter.

The paper was delivered as the Hogwarts students were just starting breakfast. Lucius Hanley read the article, stood up with the paper in his hand, and went over to yell at his sister. A crowd quickly started to form around the brother/sister pair.

Gabriel and Hermeli Habsburg, the Aurors, and professor McGonagall went over to the altercation. Sally the Elf was standing next to Delores, and there were several additional Elves close. Albus and Scorpius were on the other side of Delores, and the students surrounding Lucius were eying them warily.

"Does anyone want to tell me what is going on?" professor McGonagall barked in her most commanding voice.

"Lucius accused me of being a traitor to our family," Delores yelled. "He was yelling at me, telling me to go back home or else. He has threatened to have his friends rape me, probably because he doesn't have the balls to actually do it himself.

"I'm NOT going back to my mean father and nasty brother. Stay away from me. You threaten me again and I'll have Sally the Elf bring me right to Professor McGonagall's office, and I'll use the pensive and show her all the nasty things you have ever told me."

Professor McGonagall looked right at Lucius, proclaiming, "I am writing your father to tell him about this incident you have caused. If you continue to cause trouble I will have you expelled. Is that clear?"

"But …" Lucius started to say, when he was interrupted by Professor McGonagall insisting, "IS THAT CLEAR?"

Lucius nodded, anger and disgust on his face. He and the people surrounding him went back to their places at the table.

"I will eat with you and accompany you to classes today," Sally the Elf told Delores.

"Thank you, Sally," professor McGonagall told the little Elf.

"Thank you, Sally," Delores echoed, remembering Albus telling her to thank Elves.

"You are most welcome, Miss Delores Hanley," the little Elf replied, beaming. "I can better protect you if we is friends."

"We are aware of your schedule, and one of us will not be far away," Hermeli gently told Delores.

"May I sit next to you, Albus, Scorpius?" Delores inquired. "I don't care anymore if anyone knows I support you and not my brother and his nasty friends."

From then on Delores was a visible and vocal ally of Albus and Scorpius.

Lucius was quiet, but surly, quietly conferring with some of the pure blood fanatics while glaring at his sister and her 'new friends'.

2020


	20. Ch 20 End of the School Year

Ch 20 End of the School Year

The descriptions are better, and the dialogue is helped by my beta Deb's suggestions. Thank you.

Reviews are always appreciated.

* * *

Saturday May eighteenth Albus and Cleopatra visited the centaurs again. They explained all that had happened concerning the Chamber of Secrets. The centaurs were relieved that the basilisk were dead, but cautious about the implications of the chamber being open and used. As was typical of the centaurs, their prophecy and insights concealed as much as it revealed.

"Sometimes, I leave there more confused than when I go to meet them," Cleo muttered softly to Albus when they got back to the castle. Albus snickered in agreement.

That evening when Albus and Scorpius left for church services, Delores Handley went with them. On the way back they took a detour to a private room.

"Do you have any idea who might be a pure blood fanatic, and who might be on our side?" Albus asked Delores after they had sat down and an elf served them tea and biscuits.

"Some idea," Delores thought, nibbling on a lemon cookie. "Richard Gudgeon is on our side. Richard's older cousins are both pure blooded fanatics and dumb, as is their sister Susan, who is in your year. Blaise Urquhart isn't on the side of the pure bloods, being half Muggle herself, but I am not sure we can trust her.

"I do not think anyone on the Quidditch team is a fanatic pure blood, but I have no idea who you can trust. Of course the Davis and Stanford's are all on your side, but you know that. There are a couple of the fourth year girls I ought to try and talk to. I think you can get more girls than boys on your side. Some of the Slytherin boys get meaner the older they get. I hate that." She scowled as she finished her cookie.

They talked a short while later, but left to be back in their dormitory well before curfew.

* * *

The next day Albus approached Richard Gudgeon. "Can we talk privately?" Albus inquired.

"Do you know a place where we can?" Richard asked, looking around to see if anyone noticed them talking.

"Follow me," Albus replied. The two of them left the Slytherin dormitory, and Albus led Richard to the same room he always used.

"Is this your private hideout?" an amused Richard asked, looking around at the small sitting room.

"Not really," Albus protested. "It is just one of a number of unused rooms in the castle."

The two sat and Richard inquired, "You wanted to talk to me?"

"I had a couple of run ins with your cousin Tanya last year, before she left Hogwarts," Albus started. "I do not get the feeling you are like her, but am not sure."

Richard thought for a while. "Tanya is the worst."

Albus waited for Richard to say more. He learned that people needed time to gather their thoughts, and sometimes it they just wanted people to listen.

"She is not only a pure blood supporter, but is mouthy," Richard finally noted. "Not the brightest, either. She married Fred Flint right out of Hogwarts. He is even dumber than she is, and they are both mean. They deserve each other. Her brother Tom Jr. is neither as dumb nor as much of an ass about the pure blood cause, although he would never be on your side. Their sister Susan is in your class. I think she is a follower, not a leader. Not bright, but not mean."

"I have had her in class," Albus confirmed thoughtfully, "and you are right. She seems to be a meek girl just trying to learn and fit in, but not very bright.

They were silent for a few moments, before Albus asked a question that he had been wondering for a long time, "Are you an only child?" Albus wondered out loud. He knew Richard did not have any siblings at Hogwarts.

"You are not even close," Richard admitted with a laugh. "I have a brother Harry, who is going to be attending Hogwarts next year, a sister Ginny two years younger than Harry, a sister Lily five years younger than Harry, and a much younger brother James, so there are five of us. We have just moved into a house on NewBright street, because my father is in the Domestic Affairs unit of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He's not exactly an Auror, although he has had Auror training. We hope living there will be better for mum."

"How come a Gudgeon is not a pure blood fanatic?" Albus wondered.

"Everybody knows about the Battle of Hogwarts, but do you know about the battle five years later that captured the last of the wanted people, the death eaters and their allies?" Richard asked.

"My dad's not fond of talking about battles," Albus admitted, and Richard nodded.

"My father hid with some of the worst people, the Lestrange brothers," Richard explained. "They had the body of Bellatrix, the witch your grandmother killed, but she wasn't totally dead or alive. He thought that he would be imprisoned just because of his last name. The Lestrange brothers killed his first wife, and my mother's husband was killed by the Aurors when he would not surrender. Mum was beaten and abused, but she eventually recovered enough and my father married her. Dad says that mum still has what he calls Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She's not fond of leaving the house. I guess we receive some money from the Ministry because of it. She's a good mother, though.

"Mum and dad are just very happy with the way your mother and father treated them after the battle to capture the hideout. So I'm on your side. I have not had to take sides yet, but when I do I will be on your side."

They talked for a while longer about the dynamics of Slytherin before leaving the room and going about the rest of their day.

* * *

May twenty-fifth Albus and Cleopatra visited the merpeople again.

After the visit a confused Albus and Cleopatra went to the door to Professor McGonagall's office to see if they could talk to the portrait of Professor Dumbledore.

"I seem to be talking to you often, Albus," Minerva observed when Albus appeared at the top of the spiral stairs.

"Thank you for letting me," Albus replied with a cheeky grin. "I know Professor Dumbledore knew the Merpeople, and talked to them. I've read the book by Dylan Marwood about the language and customs of the Merpeople, and have tried to find out more about them, but there does not seem to be much more. I thought maybe Professor Dumbledore could give me some advice.

"Do you have any advice for me, Professor McGonagall?" he asked, looking hopeful.

"I've glanced at the book, Mr. Potter, but have not made any study of the Merpeople. I would like to listen to your discussion with my good friend and your namesake, Albus." Professor McGonagall turned to the portraits and pled, "Professors Dumbledore and Snape, your namesake Albus Severus is here to talk to you. Please wake up."

"Good afternoon, Albus," the portrait of Professor Dumbledore declared. "And good afternoon to you too, Cleopatra."

"Good afternoon," they both replied.

"Mr. Potter and Miss Smith, good afternoon," the portrait of Professor Snape followed with a sneer.

"Good afternoon," Albus and Cleopatra replied to the portrait.

"I've read Mr. Dylan Marwood's book about Merpeople. He has almost their entire language in the book, a little more than ten-thousand words. All of them are rather explicit about actions and things. No words for ideas. It is a staggering small vocabulary, and they do not seem to be able to think much beyond their limited vocabulary. Is that what you know about them?" Albus asked the old Headmaster.

"Some of them know some English, but they have a limited ability to think beyond the very concrete reality of their own existence," Professor Dumbledore theorized while stroking his long white beard. "Your observations are similar to my own."

Albus observed, "The Merpeople want us to keep visiting, and we will, but not often."

"What do you think about the Merpeople, Cleopatra?" Professor Dumbledore wondered as he looked at the Gryffindor.

"They are cold-blooded, not only their biology but also their emotions," Cleo theorized. "I do not feel love or even like, just utility. It is hard to me to be down there."

"Why is it hard for you?" the portrait wondered with a small smile that Minerva recognized as his teaching smile.

"No love, or even emotions. It is almost like they are living machines or something. I cannot really explain it, but I don't feel comfortable down there. We are not their friends." She gave a small shiver in remembrance.

"Albus?" the old professor asked.

"I understand what Cleo is saying," Albus replied. "They do what they have to do to perpetuate their species, and I think they talk to us because they think that we may be key to that. I do not think there is any concern for the mortality of anyone except a desire on their own not to hasten their death, and even that is limited. It is more a herd morality. The centaurs love the herd. I don't sense any love in the merpeople, just a commitment to do what they can to insure their kind survives."

"I agree with you, Albus, Cleopatra," professor Dumbledore responded quite happy that they were able to deduce his own thoughts on the Merpeople.

After a brief pause, "I see you are trying to change the culture of Slytherin, Albus Severus," Professor Snape butted in. "You have brought into the house the children of some of the most prominent people in our world. Is your group trying to mold Slytherin in your image?"

"It is not exactly MY group, sir," Albus replied.

"Do not be ashamed of your ambition, young Mr. Potter," Snape admonished firmly. "Slytherin has produced many wealthy individuals, many prominent individuals. All of the former Slytherin headmasters would be proud of you if you could bring Slytherin back to the prominence it once enjoyed and deserved."

"Hear, hear!" a group of portraits replied.

Albus wanted all of the houses to succeed, but he felt that he was not going to get anywhere saying it in front of this group of portraits.

"It would help if the house ghosts were on our side," Albus suggested.

"Portraits and ghosts do not really communicate much," Professor Snape responded with a shake of his head. "Especially the Slytherin ghosts. I would think you could encourage your friend Scorpius Malfoy to talk to his ancestor, the other Scorpius Hyperon Malfoy."

"I think they have eyed each other, and even had a few brief talks," Albus replied. "I will encourage Scorpius to try and befriend the ghost."

* * *

Albus and Scorpius were in the Slytherin common room when Albus saw the ghost of Scorpius Malfoy, Scorpius's ancestor from over two-hundred years' age, float by. Albus entreated the ghost, "Talk to us, please, Mr. Malfoy."

"Why?" a suspicious ghost snapped.

"My friend Scorpius Hyperon Malfoy is, we understand, your namesake," Albus replied gesturing to Scorpius. "We want to befriend you."

"The family betrayed me and murdered me," The ghost sneered as he looked over Scorpius. "How will talking to you help me."

"I do not know," Scorpius jumped in with, "but you could let us try. I'm not the kind of nasty person my grandfather Lucius is, and I would like to try and help an ancestor who was murdered."

"I'm dead!" the ghost exclaimed angrily. "There is nothing you can do about that."

"Do you have to stay a ghost, or could you go on to a better place?" Albus wondered.

"Friar Tuck and his nuns' are afraid of judgement," the ghost explained. "None of us ghosts were exactly good people when we were alive, or we would have chosen to go on."

"So have any of the ghosts gone on?" Albus wondered.

"I do not know," Scorpius the ghost admitted. "I do not have any idea who to ask. None of the ghosts want to talk about what comes after."

"I could ask Bishop Scherica," Albus suggested. "Maybe he knows."

"I've heard that Holy Water can kill a ghost," the ghost grumbled. "NO Holy Water!" He glared at both boys.

"I can make sure we do not have any Holy Water near when we talk to the bishop," Albus agreed. "Come to church with us next Saturday."

"I will be there after services," the ghost replied suspiciously, eying the two of them before floating away.

The following Saturday, the group (Albus, Cleo, Scorpius, Rose and the Malfoy ghost) approached Bishop Scherica after service. The Bishop looked up at the group and if he thought it strange that a ghost was in it he didn't let it show on his face. "So why can I do for you today?" he asked including the ghost in his question.

After Albus introduced the Ghostly Scorpius to the Bishop, he asked Bishop Scherica," What do you know about ghosts? They are souls that have not gone on to whatever awaits us after death? Mr. Malfoy, the ghost, is one of the Slytherin ghosts. We want to know if he has to stay an unhappy ghost."

"Ghosts are souls that have not faced judgement, that is what I understand," the bishop answered after a few seconds of thought. "Instead of going on to their final reward or, I guess, punishment, they have decided to stay here on earth."

"For how long?" Albus asked.

"That I do not know," the bishop pondered. "There are no western ghosts older than a couple of thousand years. None that I know of from before the time of Christ. I know they did not all disappear when Jesus died and rose, but that some of them did disappear shortly after missionaries came to new areas. It is not an area I have studied.

"Mr. Malfoy, as a ghost have you seen ghosts disappear?" He asked the uncomfortable looking ghost.

There was silence for an awkward period of time, before Cleo butted in with, "You were married, Mr. Malfoy. What happened to your wife? Is she a ghost too?"

"No, blasted, no!" the ghost exclaimed with frustration and hurt in his voice. "She has gone on. I…, I am not sure how you become a ghost, but I know that after I died I was given a choice. I do not have any memory of making the choice, but I know that I did. I have talked to Friar Tuck, the Huffllepuff ghost. We think that my wife has gone on. We are not sure where. We were not only the nicest people. I cheated my brother out of some of the Malfoy property, got some of it when all of it should have gone to him. I still do not think it is fair that only the oldest son inherits everything. I did something about that, and was killed for my effort.

"We were killed at the same time. She inherited money from her Muggle parents. We tried to escape the magical world, but I think we were hunted down and killed. I know that the Malfoy family inherited our money, and that made me so mad I stayed here to haunt them. I could not haunt Malfoy Manor for some reason, so I am stuck here at Hogwarts."

"The best way to get back at the Pure Blood prejudice of the Malfoy family would be to change the nature of Slytherin, Mr. Malfoy," Albus suggested

The Malfoy ghost looked skeptical. "How do you know I want to help you?"

"You said your wife had Muggle parents," Albus suggested. "That would imply that you do not share the old fashion prejudices of most of the Malfoy family."

The ghost continued to look at them suspiciously.

"Please help us," Cleo pled, looking at him with pleading eyes. "I do not know all about this salvation stuff Albus and the church people talk about, but I cannot believe that you would not be given the chance for redemption."

"I would appreciate your help as well," Scorpius added, nodding firmly.

The ghost sighed. "I will try to help you. I do not have much to lose."

"We will see if there can be redemption for a ghost," Apollo Scherica told the ghost.

* * *

The day before the students were going to take the train back to London, Albus received a call on his Mobile. His father greeted him, and then, told him, "I would like your group to accompany Delores to the train, and sit with her. I will have an Auror sit with you. We are worried that Delores's father and brother may try to kidnap her, and we want her guarded until the train arrives in King's Cross and we can get her to her mother in their apartment on Grimmauld Place."

"I will talk to Delores tonight, dad," Albus replied. "She is nervous about the train ride home, and I am sure she will appreciate the escort."

* * *

The next day, Delores Hanley met Albus and Scorpius, and walked to the train with them. The three met Rose and Cleo outside the Great Hall. Accompanying them were Frerin, Albus's Elf guard, and Dis, Cleo's Elf guard. Lucius Hanley observed the group as Delores and her guarding classmates and their guarding Elves walked to the train under the watchful eye of Hogwarts staff and Aurors. Part way to the train Gus Gudgeon, a member of the Domestic Affairs office of the Department of Law Enforcement, met the group. "I would like to ride with you," he announced, "and when we arrive in London accompany all of you to the Potter house, twelve Grimmauld Place. Once there I will walk you, Delores, to your new home."

"I would like that," Delores replied. Delores was still very worried that her brother or father would kidnap her and not let her go back to Hogwarts.

Once at the station, Albus told the rest, "We need to find a compartment so we can sit together."

Once in the train, Albus and Gus arranged the seating. Gus told the group, "I want to be next to the door so I can act as a guard if anyone tries to get into the compartment.

Delores sat between Rose, who was closest to the window, and Cleopatra, and Cleo had her Elf Dis on the side next to the doorway. On the other side of the compartment were on the outside, Scorpius, then Albus, then Frerin his Elf, and finally Gus Gudgeon.

When the train was half way back to London, Lucius Hanley came into the compartment where Albus and his companions were. In the hallway were several other people, including Caradoc Dearborn, a seventh-year boy in Slytherin, Felix Yaxley, sixth-year, and Perth Parkinson and William Wilkes, fourth-year. Lucius announced haughtily, "Delores, you are coming with me."

Gus stood up and introduced himself. "I am Gus Gudgeon from the Domestic Affairs Department of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I will be accompanying Delores to her new home. If you continue to bother her I can have you arrested. I have portkey handcuffs on me that will immediately transfer you to a cell at the Ministry."

Perth Parkinson pushed his way into the compartment, yelling, "Muggle loving mudbloods! Thieves! Your father and uncle STOLE our family business, didn't rescue my mum until she was raped and ruined."

Perth had his wand out, but Albus levitated the wand into his hand promptly and silently. Albus then put Perth's wand in his back pocket, so quickly and quietly that Perth had no idea what had just happened to his wand.

"Where is my wand?" Perth all but yelled.

"If everybody else leaves, and no one is visible in the hallway, I will give you back your wand, Perth," Albus announced.

"My father and his friends will handle this," Lucius muttered. "Let's go."

Everyone but Perth left. When the hall was clear, Albus levitated Perth's wand back to him. Perth gave Albus a dirty look, and left.

When the train arrived at King's Cross Station, Gus's Magic/Muggle Mobil rang. "Hello, Harry," Gus answered. He listened on his mobile while Harry explained the situation to him.

"I will keep the students in here." Gus then addressed the students. "Mr. Hanley and a small group of his friends are waiting for Delores, is seems. Mr. Potter has called in reinforcements, and until Mr. Hanley and Lucius and the rest are gone we will not leave the train.

"Mr. Potter says that in an emergency either of the Elves could bring Delores to twelve Grimmauld Place, if it became necessary, but we hope we do not have to do that."

There was apparently quite a fuss, with Niles arguing with Harry, and with several reporters covering the altercation.

Scorpius and Rose were looking out the window at the altercation, and Scorpius gasped, "I see my father with Mr. Hanley. I do not like this."

Gus called Harry, telling him, "I am going to have the Elves bring everyone to your house."

Harry must have agreed, because when Gus terminated the call he turned to Frerin and told the Elf, "Please Bring Delores to twelve Grimmauld Place, then you and Dis bring Scorpius and Cleopatra, then come back for Albus and Rose.

The Elves promptly brought everyone to the kitchen at twelve Grimmauld Place, finally bringing Gus as well.

Ginny was in the kitchen waiting for everyone. "I didn't expect you to arrive like this!" she exclaimed with a bit of worry.

"Harry is arguing with Delores's father and a group of wizards," Gus explained. "Draco is with them, and I thought it was best to have the Elves bring them right here. We have to leave the train to take a Floo, and I did not want to risk it."

"I'm worried that my father will not want us to go to Switzerland," Scorpius groused. "He has written to tell me he wants me home this summer. NO WAY! I've finally begun to make friends with the MELL students, the group of us Magi and Elf Language Learners."

"Do you want me to call Tabitha?" Ginny asked Gus. "I've met her a couple of times since she moved into her apartment, and she is welcome to come over here and pick up Delores."

"That would be fine," Gus replied. "The garden areas in back of Grimmauld Place and NewBright Street are some of the safest places in England, but until she is more comfortable here I am sure she would appreciate it if her mother and I walked with her."

"Do you mind if we walk with you?" Albus asked. "I know I would like to see where you are living now. Rose lives right next door at thirteen Grimmauld Place, and our Uncle and Aunt Dursley and their children live at the end of the block at fifteen Grimmauld Place. All our Weasley cousins are older, but our Dursley cousins are younger."

"Do you know many of the people who live in this area?" Delores wondered.

"I've met most of them," Ginny volunteered. "Lilly Granger knows almost everybody. She and her husband live in one Grimmauld Place, and she acts as landlady to the places she and her husband own and rent, but she makes sure she knows everybody who lives on Grimmauld Place or NewBright street.

"Lavender Brown Blackburn and her husband Gray know most of the people too. They work for the Domestic Affairs Department of the Department for Magical Law Enforcement. My father Arthur and Harry make sure they take plenty of time off when the Department is not too busy, because they put in long hours and deal with too much tragedy when they are busy."

"Mrs. Blackburn was the real heavy and curvy lady that we met when you showed mother and me our apartment?" Delores wondered.

"Yes," Ginny smiled. Lavender had always been curvy, but ever since she had come back from Switzerland healed of the damage that the werewolf Grayback had inflicted on her, Lavender had also been much heavier.

Tabitha came running into twelve Grimmauld Place, and immediately she and Delores were in each other's arms. When they were finished greeting each other, Gus announced, "The Elves retrieved everyone's luggage. I can walk with you and levitate Delores's luggage.

"May my friends come with us and see our apartment?" Delores asked her mother, her eyes pleading.

"That would be nice," Tabitha replied with a laugh at her daughter's antics. "I am beginning to make friends here. This is a very social place, and I would like you to feel comfortable here as well, Delores."

The Hogwarts students all tromped over to six Grimmauld Place and climbed up to the fourth floor apartment of Delores Hanley and her mother.

"I feel safer here than I did at home the last couple of years," Delores said as she showed the other students her bedroom and the rest of the apartment.

"We have to go to Switzerland next week," Albus informed Delores. "I wanted to explain why you will not see us for a couple of weeks.

"I am sure you will find friends here, between Grimmauld Place and NewBright Street. We will contact you again when we are back from Switzerland."

* * *

Cleopatra and Scorpius ate dinner at twelve Grimmauld Place with the Potter and Granger-Weasley families. When they were finished Ginny told Cleo and Scorpius that Mr. Malfoy was insisting that they come back to Malfoy Manor immediately, so they reluctantly left by Floo.

2020


	21. Ch 21 You are not going to Switzerland

Ch 21 "You are not going to Switzerland"

Author's Note. My apologizes to "The Wizard of Oz."

More dialogue and descriptions from my beta Deb, plus another pointed question that caused me to clarify something.

* * *

A very angry Draco Malfoy met Scorpius and Cleopatra when they arrived by Floo in the front parlor from twelve Grimmauld Place. "You are going to stop spending time with those blood traitor Weasley's and their friends!" he yelled at Scorpius, then looked disdainfully at Cleo. "You are not going to Switzerland. You are going to spend the summer here learning how to be true Malfoys."

"I'm not a Malfoy," Cleopatra muttered.

"Traitors and killers like your ancestor who killed my namesake Scorpius, the second ghost of Slytherin?" Scorpius asked, trying to be calm. "Killers like my grandfather Malfoy, who killed innocent Muggles? There does not seem to be much in our family history to be proud of, father."

"Impertinent bastard!" Draco snapped, getting into Scorpius' face.

"So I'm a bastard, father? What does that make you? A rapist?" Scorpius looked at his father with contempt, "What does that make that unloving piece of …," Scorpius waved at Astoria, "whatever sitting over there? She has never been much of a mother, so I guess I am a bastard."

The whole family was in the living room, all but Narcissa looking at the children with varying degrees of contempt. The two children moved over to the side of the room where Narcissa Malfoy was standing and she put her hands on their shoulders. Flanking Draco on the other side of the room were great-grandmothers Black and Malfoy. In the middle, sitting down and obviously not happy to be there, was Scorpius's mother.

Draco glared at Astoria, and she glared back at him. Whatever there was between them, it sure was not love.

Cleo took out her wand, and tried to read what it was between Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, like she did when she was working on soap and shampoo and perfume for people. She had made soap and shampoo for enough married couples to understand that each marriage was different, but that there was something there in every marriage that she could sense. Whatever it was, it seemed to be missing in the relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy.

"Give me your wands!" Draco demanded, moving forward, his hand out. Narcissa grabbed both of the children's shoulders and put them slightly behind her.

"NO!" Cleopatra yelled, holding her wand in both hands and jerking it away. The wand started to glow, and the room shook with a magical earthquake, the room glowing and shimmering, like some movie special effect had gone wrong. Everyone (except Narcissa and the Children) looked around the room fearfully. Narcissa gently squeezed Cleo's shoulder and nodded at her, so Cleo put her wand back into a pocket and the earthquake calmed down.

"I do not think Scorpius 'Snakeslayer' Malfoy, the hero of finding the Chamber of Secrets, should give up his wand either," Narcissa mildly suggested, smiling proudly down at Scorpius and giving his shoulder a squeeze.

"You are on the wrong side in Slytherin, Scorpius," Draco suggested haughtily.

"I should have been with the idiots that tried to raise basilisk, father?" Scorpius wondered, his voice filled with scorn. "So I could be killed, and your frigid wife would not give you another heir."

"DO NOT TALK TO ME LIKE THAT," Draco yelled, storming forward, his arm raised as if to slap his son. He stopped when Narcissa pulled out her own wand and the tip glowed in his face. He swallowed hard and turned away to glare at Astoria, who frowned an angry frown, looking like being there was making her sick. Astoria's contempt for Draco was evident when she looked away from him.

"Go to your rooms, both of you," Draco commanded. "You are spending the day with me tomorrow, Scorpius."

Narcissa nodded to the two of them, and Scorpius and Cleopatra went to their rooms, Dis, the Elf that shadowed Cleo following.

* * *

Cleopatra did not see Scorpius until dinner on Saturday, and he looked like he was not all together mentally. After dinner she and Dis went into Scorpius's room. He was sitting on his bed and staring unfocused at the carpet, blinking his eyes as if to clear them. Cleo went up to him and it took a few seconds for him to focus on her. She frowned and asked him, touching his forehead to see if he was ill, "What did you do today?"

"I cannot remember," Scorpius responded and shuddered. "I feel dirty, like I did something wrong or saw something wrong, but I cannot remember anything. We need to leave! We need to escape this place."

"How?" Cleopatra asked, sitting on the bed with a sigh. "Your father has closed the Floo, and did something to make apparating impossible. I do not know all that he has done, but I saw your grandmother arguing with the great-grandmothers today."

Dis noted, as she stared at her young charges, "Mr. Malfoy has done something to keep even Elves from apparating with someone else. I might be able to take Miss Cleopatra, but it would be risky. I could not go back for Scorpius."

"So we just walk out the front door," Scorpius suggested with a shrug. "We call the Knight Bus, and get a ride to Grimmauld Place. After all, Rose is fond of saying that Wizards have no common sense, and I'll bet that Father forgot about the simple escapes… the non-magical ones."

"I can shrink our trunks," Cleopatra suggested, nodding her head. "Albus taught me how to do that. It is an innie spell, where you have to stuff things into another dimension or two or, well something like that. You have to define a boundary, or have one like the trunk, but then you just have to push or, you don't really compress it you just shrink, but not exactly shrink because it has to go somewhere. Well, it works."

Scorpius had learned not to question Cleo when she described spells, what kind they were or how she did them. The explanations were strange at their best, and at times so weird and convoluted that it was impossible to understand what she was talking about. The only person who could understand her was Albus, and he had confessed that even he had a hard time understanding her at times.

Dis shook her head and suggested, "The front door is probably a bad idea. Most of the perimeter of Malfoy Manor is very well guarded from getting in or out. There is a very well-guarded way into or out of the property that the Elves use to get groceries and supplies. Elves are not to use the main entrance! Everyone but grandmother Narcissa is upset when I come in the front door or the Floo with Cleo."

"Let us go right now!" Scorpius pled, shuddering. "This house is beginning to make me feel dirty inside and outside."

"Give me half an hour to pack." Cleo replied. "I will meet you in your room with my trunk shrunk, and then I will shrink your trunk and we can go.

Half an hour later Cleo and Dis re-entered Scorpius's room. She shrunk his trunk, and together the three of them left by a rear servants stairway. In the kitchen they were met by the house elf BB, the youngest of the adult elves that maintained Malfoy Manor. "We have been ordered not to let you leave," BB told the Scorpius, Cleo and Dis.

"Do not let us leave, then," Scorpius suggested. "Just not be around when we leave."

"House elves do not disobey their owners," BB mumbled.

"But hired Elves with uniforms and pay, no matter how small the pay, are not house elves," suggested Scorpius, gently reminding the young elf of his place.

"Maybe Cleo's Elf had something to do with helping them escape," suggested Dis, referring to herself. "Maybe she distracted you, or something."

"Dis and I were talking, and then she left, and Scorpius and Cleopatra were gone," BB thought out loud, looking relieved at, she hoped, not getting into too much trouble with Mr. Malfoy. Since the Ministry orders that Elves were not to be punished or ordered to punish themselves, all they had to put up with was Mr. Malfoy's impotent yelling.

Scorpius and Cleopatra left, leaving the kitchen and going to the Elf doorway of the Malfoy property. Dis and BB stayed behind, engaged in some sort of conversation. Scorpius and Cleo opened the door and rushed outside.

Scorpius looked up, and saw Dementors screaming down at them. "Knight Bus!" he yelled.

"Help, Albus," Cleo thought out loud.

The Knight Bus popped into view, and Stan Shunpike, the conductor, popped out of the door, looked up at the Dementors, and yelled, "Inside, you two! Them things are not allowed in here. They cannot pay the fare."

"It wouldn't be fair to the other customers to let them in," Scorpius quipped. "Even if they were riding to a fair."

"You's the bloke that killed them basilisk," Stan observed as he pointed to the newspaper in his hands. "Then you joke at Dementors. You trying to be the new Harry Potter? He was on this bus, you know. Before he became a hero."

"Nice wizard, that Harry Potter," Ernie Prang, the ancient driver remarked, as he slammed the bus into gear and it jumped what felt like two counties ahead.

A small, scared girl squeaked as she picked herself up off the floor again, "Harry Potter is real? My father says that mother was not a witch, and I should forget all about magic."

"Of course magic is real," a witch that was just coming down from upstairs said. "Arthur here goes to Hogwarts," pointing to a boy a little older than Scorpius, "and his sisters will go when they are old enough. Saw Mr. Potter my last year at Hogwarts. Never met him, though.

"Follow me out, children. We are almost home."

The bus jerked a couple more times, and deposited the little family, including a very harried looking wizard carrying, obviously with magic, over a dozen bags, on a very rural street.

"Who are you?" Cleo asked the little girl after the wizard left.

"Jane Clark, mam," the little girl answered. "I'm running away from my father. He is mean."

"Where are you going?" Cleo asked, putting her arm around the young girl.

"I don't know," the little girl cried, looking quite frightened.

"We have to pick up any witch or wizard that is in distress," Stan explained, "but I don't know what to do with that one." He nodded to Jane before going back to his paper.

"We are running away from my father too," Scorpius announced, sitting with aplomb next to the girl.

Jane looked at Cleo who also nodded, "May I please run away with you," Jane begged.

Scorpius looked at Cleopatra, and they nodded at each other.

"Come with us," Cleo sang. "We're off to see the wizards, the wonderful wizards of," stopping for a moment, she thought, and finished with, "Potters. We're off to see the wizards, the wonderful wizards of Potters."

The bus jerked again, and a disreputable looking wizard smelling of way too much to drink stumbled into the bus.

"Sleep it off on the third floor," Ernie yelled. Turning towards Scorpius and Cleo, Ernie told them, "I see that one often. Sleeps off his drunk on the bus, he does."

While Ernie was yelling, Stan was helping the drunk wizard up the steps. When Stan came down he asked, "Who is going to pay for her," pointing towards Jane.

"I will pay for all of us," Scorpius replied, paying the fare for Jane as well as for Cleo and himself.

The bus jerked again, and then flew through the streets of London, suddenly stopping at a short street with fourteen or fifteen houses on it. Scorpius jumped out of the bus, ran up to the front door of number twelve, rang the doorbell, knocked on the knocker and yelled, 'Help!"

Cleo took Jane's hand and followed Scorpius up to the door. The girl stumbled a bit as it had been a long time since she had been on a solid unmoving, unjerking surface.

A very old house elf in a dress, really a servant's uniform, slowly opened the door. "Master Malfoy, Miss Smith, what are you doing here?" she asked.

Almost immediately Albus Potter appeared, and invited the three inside. "Please come in. What is the matter, Cleo?"

"We were attacked by Dementors, but they cannot ride the Knight Bus because they cannot pay the fare." Ernie said before tipping his hat at the group and going back into the bus, which disappeared with a flash.

"They are not fair folks, that's for certain," Albus countered.

"Jane is running away with us," Cleo announced cheekily.

"I do not know if I should call dad or Mrs. Blackburn," Albus thought out loud. "Well, dad is the easiest, since he is upstairs in the drawing room."

The assembled group tromped upstairs to the drawing room. Ginny Potter was sitting in a comfortable chair, a laptop in her lap, and was reading something to Harry.

"Sometimes dad helps mum with her column," Albus whispered.

"Are you Ginny Potter," Jane asked, eyes wide open in astonishment. "I saw your photograph in the Daily Prophet, but my father says that all that magic stuff is not real."

"I am Ginny Potter, and I assure you I am quite real. What are you doing here?" Ginny asked, looking at the trio.

"We are running away from home," Jane proudly announced. "Misters Ernie Prang and Stan Shunpike didn't know what to do with me until these two entered the bus. They said I could run away with them. My father says there is no magic and no Quidditch and no Harry Potter. When mum died we stopped receiving the Daily Prophet, but I read every issue before."

"What is your name?" Ginny asked.

"Jane Clark, mam," Jane replied.

Ginny looked at Harry, and he nodded. "I will call Lavender and see what she can find out." Harry took out his Magic/Muggle mobile and intoned, "Lavender Brown Blackburn."

"Hello, Harry," Lavender answered. "Why the call?"

"There is a Jane Clark is at our house," Harry replied.

"In your living room?" Lavender gasped.

"Well, we are in the drawing room, but yes, she is here," Harry replied, "along with Scorpius and Cleopatra."

Harry heard Lavender tell her husband, "Gray, all three runaways are at the Potters. I'm heading over there now."

"Where is Dis?" Harry asked, looking at Cleo. She shrugged. She had no idea where the Elf was. Harry then looked a Frerin, Albus's Elf and Dis's partner.

"Dis is in a very awkward position," Frerin replied. "Lies, things not as they seem. She is dressed as a Malfoy Elf, but she is really not. No way to say what she is in Elfish or to do what she does. BB not stop Scorpius and Cleopatra from leaving. Mr. Malfoy very upset. All house elves should be very upset, but is not house elves but is playing house elves and is very difficult and awkward."

"And the head of the house elf department is the Elf Harriet Tubman," Harry laughed. "Draco is not going to plead his case before any Elf, but especially not HER!"

Harry thought back to Professor Snape being a double agent. Dis was nominally a Malfoy Elf, but in reality she was more a Department of Magical Law Enforcement Elf. If Draco had any idea that Dis helped Scorpius and Cleopatra leave, escape, he would be furious.

Draco was probably furious that Scorpius and Cleopatra had left in any case. Since they were officially runaways that was putting Harry in a very difficult position.

Everyone waited for Mrs. Blackburn to show up by making small talk. When she came up the stairs Gus Gudgeon was with her.

"I have two situations here," Lavender announced. "Jane Clark is officially a Muggle runaway. Legally I need to return her to her father within forty-eight hours."

"He is mean, and he doesn't believe in magic!" Jane protested, looking quite tearful. "I don't want to stay with him!"

"We have been aware of your situation for the last four years, Jane," Lavender kindly replied. "We felt that eventually we would have to deal with your father. It is just not easy."

"In forty-eight hours we are going to be in Switzerland," Albus suggested. "If she came with us, then she would not be in Britain. Could you make it so Jane did not have to go back to her father if you had a couple of weeks to work on it? That way someone could talk with her father and explain things to him?"

"It is not going to be easy to explain things to Jane's father," Lavender admitted. "It can be construed as kidnapping and Mr. Clark could press charges, Harry would have to play a little fast and loose with the rules, but we could get away with it.

"Jane's father was never very comfortable with magic, but her mother was not very good at explaining it either. He is too controlling, but she should not lose all contact with her father, and he doesn't deserve to lose all contact with her.

"We are not sure how Jane's mother died, but we know she and a Rosier have had conflicts. She may have been raped after Hogwarts but before she married. Her death is suspicious, but we do not have any proof of anything."

"Does Jane have any other family?" Harry asked.

"Maternal grandparents and an uncle who have not seen her in four years," Lavender explained. "She would be better off living with them. Give me some time to work on it."

"We should be able to do that," Harry replied. "You can honestly say that Jane is safe but not available after this weekend."

"I am going back home in a bit," Lavender announced. "I will leave the Malfoy family drama to Gus."

"Thanks," Gus grumbled.

"We want to go to Switzerland," Scorpius told everybody. "That's why we ran away."

"I NEED to be in Switzerland," Cleo insisted. "I do not see why I even have to stay with Mr. Malfoy. Grandmum Malfoy is not so bad, she is actually nice, but no one else is the house is nice at all."

Gus said, "I will go over to the Malfoy house tonight and say that the children are safe, and that we are working on getting them home. I expect some rough negotiations over the next few days."

"We ARE going to Switzerland," Scorpius insisted.

Gus looked at Harry, who agreed, "They really need to be in Switzerland with us."

"Always do what is right, not what is easy?" Gus wondered, "Or what is customary or, strictly speaking, legal?"

"Do you look to the law, or to doing what is best for your clients?" Harry asked. "Do not answer; I know you are always concerned to do what is best for all the people you are working with."

"I will go to Malfoy Manor tonight, eventually," Gus replied, agreeing that he did not wish to answer Harry. Gus knew that there was more at stake, and that the situation was more complex than that of normal runaways.

"I had better call Hermione and Rose so you can stay with Rose tonight," Ginny told Cleo, who nodded happily. She called Hermione, and then called for Mitzi, the Elf that helped her with her balance. "Please get Lily Luna," Ginny instructed the little Elf.

A short time later Lily Luna came down the stairs. Ginny told her daughter, "You are going to have a guest for a couple of nights, Jane Clark."

Lily looked at Jane cautiously. She then sighed, looked at her mother, and asked, "Why?"

Jane volunteered, "I'm running away from home because my father is mean, and he doesn't believe in magic and says that mother was not a witch and I'm not a witch and I'm not going to Hogwarts in the fall because there is no Hogwarts."

Lavender added, "It really would be best if Jane stayed with you for a couple of days."

Lily looked at Lavender suspiciously, then back at Jane, then her mother, and back at Lavender. Eventually she asked, "Are we the only people she can stay with, Mrs. Blackburn?"

"Jane staying with you is not the only thing we could do, Lily, but it is the best thing for her," Lavender explained. "Please just let her stay with you."

"She can stay with me," Lily agreed. Lily fidgeted, Jane looked at Lily. Eventually Ginny had to say, "Lily, you two need to go to your room and show her around. I will have Mabel come up and make sure Jane has food and clothes."

"I have a few things in my backpack," Jane explained as she pointed to a modest size backpack she wore.

Lily led Jane up through the floor with her parents' room and the nursery, through the "boy's floor" with Albus and James bedrooms, to the top floor where her bedroom and her mother's home office, which doubled as a guest bedroom, was. There were Elf quarters in the attic above the floors for Magi.

Lavender stood up to leave, but before she did she told the group remaining, "We have been aware of the Clark family for years. We thought about four years ago we were going to have to rescue Jane and her mother from Jane's father. A little over two years ago Jane's mother died under suspicious circumstances. We do not think Jane is being physically abused, but we have plenty of magical evidence she is being emotionally abused.

"Our problem is that Jane's father is both abusive and possessive. Getting her out legally is not going to be very easy."

A short time later Hermione and Rose came into the drawing room, both looking rather disheveled. Rose was in skimpy and obviously old nightclothes, with a house coat open in the front that she hastily closed when she saw Scorpius. Rose had matured, and the garments she was wearing revealed more than her normal school clothes. Scorpius grinned and shrugged, and Rose blushed and glowered.

"Rose, take Cleo back to your bedroom," Hermione ordered. The two girls went down the stairs to the kitchen. The magical Closet that was gradually taking the place of the Floo was connected to both houses, so you could go from the Potter house at twelve Grimmauld Place to the Granger-Weasley house next door at thirteen Grimmauld Place without going outside.

Once Rose and Cleo were gone, Hermione continued, "Harry, could you please make sure Lily, James and Jane are in their bedrooms."

Harry took out his map of his house, and watched as Lily and Jane went up to the top floor to Lily's bedroom.

"Everybody please sit down," Hermione instructed. "Scorpius, why did you leave? You seem to have rushed out of the house like something bad happened."

"I do not know what I did today," Scorpius explained and shuddered, rubbing his hands together like he was washing them, "but I feel it is wrong or dirty or something."

"I hate this," Hermione muttered, rubbing her eyes. "I had hoped that when Tom Riddle was defeated we would all at least live somewhat happily ever after. I had hoped that no children would have to face the problems we are facing."

Hermione looked at Scorpius, and sighed. "At least you have proved that you are brave, Scorpius, and that you do not panic in a dangerous situation. You also seem to be a good person. With Mr. Potter's permission, I am going to ask you to help us."

Harry took a deep breath, looked over at Ginny as a world of emotions flew between them, and then nodded. "I think we are in one of those 'do what is right, not what is easy' situations," he finally agreed.

"Let us start with some history, as best as we can figure out," Hermione started, pacing as she spoke. "There were twelve families, we think, that established themselves in Britain when the Romans conquered. They were not related to the original Druid Magi. These twelve always seemed to have money that no one could trace, maybe hidden farms, maybe slave labor, something not quite right about them. Whatever it was, it passed down to one male child, normally the oldest. These male children seemed to be uncommonly mean. Occasionally one of these families did not have a male heir. We theorize that another family took over whatever it is that these families have. A few times a bastard son seemed to appear out of nowhere to take over the family. There are six families left of the original twelve.

"These six families seem to be allied with between five and seven similar families in France.

Hermione turned to look at Scorpius, "The Malfoy family is one of these families. I would guess that you are under some form of the Imperius Curse when you cannot remember what you did. You must be resisting it, at least partially, if you feel that what you did is not right in some way.

"We really need you to be the heir of the Malfoy Estate if we are ever going to get to the bottom of this,"

"Live under my father's domination for the next one hundred years," Scorpius shrieked in horror.

"If he is using the Imperius Curse we can send him to prison and you would be acting head of the Malfoy family," Hermione replied, holding up her hand to calm him. "Then maybe we could get to the bottom of this. It would really be ideal if you were at least seventeen before we tried to replace your father.

"We will try to minimize the amount of time you spend at Malfoy Manor, but you are going to have to spend at least a little time there on a regular basis."

"As one of the MELL students he has an obligation to the whole community of Magi to continue to spend time with them," Harry argued. "That may help us keep Scorpius from spending too much time with his father."

"I will try to make that argument," Gus Gudgeon interjected. "I will tell Draco that Scorpius has obligations to the whole community of Magi. Besides, by seeming to be either the spokesperson or the recorder of their meetings he is becoming a very prominent Magi, and that could only benefit the Malfoy family."

"I really do not like the feeling that I am doing something wrong or dirty when I am with my father," Scorpius protested, but sighed and nodded his head. "I guess I really ought to, for the good of our world, but I do not like it."

"You probably should not like it," Harry confirmed. "That is what makes you a good person."

"I hate it that I have had to kill people," Albus added. "When I had to levitate that machine gun and the only way to point it was at the Magi wielding it, and he was reduced to the bloodiest mess of bone and flesh and blood, I felt horrible. I really didn't have a choice. The alternative would have been to have many innocent people killed. Bishop Scherica has spent enough time letting me know that I need to forgive myself for things like that." He turned to look at his friend with worried eyes.

"I think you need to do this, Scorpius. I just feel very sorry for you. It is going to be hard."

"I agree," Harry added. "I think this is going to end up being a very hard job, and a potentially dangerous job. I would like you to agree to do it, however."

"I want to make up for all my evil ancestors," Scorpius grimly responded. "I do not like it, but I will do everything in my power to help you find out what is going on."

"You should sleep in Albus's bedroom tonight and Sunday night. Monday we will go to Switzerland," Harry told the boys.

When the boys were upstairs Hermione told Harry, "Someone is going to have to teach Scorpius Occlumency if he is going to remember what he is doing when Draco is taking Scorpius wherever they are going."

"I would be very cautious about that," Harry replied. "Whatever Scorpius is doing, it is making him feel guilty. Until he is much older and stronger I do not want him to be able to remember any evil thing Draco is making him do."

"You are using Scorpius just like Dumbledore used you," Hermione argued.

"And I do not like it," Harry admitted. "Do you have an alternative plan?"

"No," Hermione sighed. "No I do not. I do not like it, but I have no idea what else to do."

"Everything we have talked about is to be kept top secret," Harry told Gus and Ginny.

"I will go to Malfoy Manor when I leave here," Gus said as he left the meeting.

* * *

Jane Clark followed Lily Luna Potter into her bedroom and looked around. It was a large bedroom with what looked like a walk-in clothes closet.

"Could I take a shower?" Jane asked. "I feel dirty after two days in the Knight Bus."

"That door leads to the loo, and beyond that is a door that leads to the bathtub and shower," Lily pointed out.

Jane took a nightgown out of her backpack and went into the room with the shower. When she came out of the shower it appeared that someone had cleaned both the nightgown and the clothes she had just taken off. When she came back into Lily's bedroom there was another bed in the room, and she went over and sat on the bed. On a nightstand next to the bed were two sandwiches and a glass of pumpkin juice, which Jane eagerly consumed. When Jane was finished with the food she looked over at Lily, who was glumly staring at Jane.

"Is this the first time you have had to share your bedroom?" Jane asked, trying to understand Lily's attitude.

"When the family gathers at the New Burrow and Potter's New Burrow I sometimes have to share a bedroom," Lily admitted. "The two houses are huge, well big, but there are more and more people. Cousin Fred is married so he and his wife and their baby take one of the rooms. Roxanne is not married yet, but she is formally engaged so she and Frank Longbottom take another bedroom. We are going to have a couple of weddings this summer, Roxanne Weasley to Frank Longbottom and Molly Weasley to Rich Hudson."

Lily sighed. "I hope I don't have to take care of more babies. It is bad enough that I have to take care of my little sister."

"I didn't know you had a sister," Jane inquired. "I haven't seen the Daily Prophet in a couple of years, though."

"She was born a year ago May second," Lily explained. "My room was next to mum and dad, but when Minerva was born I was banished to the top floor. I really don't mind too much. The room is bigger, but I have to climb through the boys' floor to get here. Mum and dad say that climbing from the kitchen through the living and dining room floor and the drawing room floor and their floor and the boys' floor is good practice for Hogwarts and all the stairs there. I really don't mind the exercise, but it is lots of stairs sometimes."

"Your mum and dad are really Harry and Ginny Potter?" Jane asked. "The famous Harry and Ginny Potter?"

"It's not as great as you might think. I cannot go anywhere without a guard or escort or something," Lily grumbled. "Well, I can go into the whole garden area between the houses on Grimmauld Place and NewBright Street, and the property where grandmother and grandfather Weasley live is pretty large and well-guarded, so I can roam there, but I cannot go out our front door to the park across the street alone, or go to Diagon Alley alone, or most anywhere. Dad keeps insisting that I am only safe in 'safe space.' It's not fun being the child of Harry and Ginny Potter sometimes."

"I didn't think about that," Jane replied.

"I guess dad's rich, but I sure don't see any of the money," Lily grumbled some more. "I do have an expensive broom, and nice things, but we have to make money by transplanting magical plants at the New Burrow, and even in the Longbottom greenhouses across the street. The work isn't too bad, although you get dirty and sweaty, but we have to earn our spending money. And I get paid for babysitting once in a while, but James does more babysitting than I do, a lot more, at least in the summer, so he earns more money. They do not trust me to do much babysitting all on my own. Mum writes her column and I take care of Minerva, but we are in the same room, the other big room on this floor."

"Does Albus babysit?" Jane asked.

"Albus is always busy, and he and Cleopatra make soap and shampoo and perfume and seem to make all kinds of money," Lily grumbled. "Mum has James take care of Minerva, and Albus, the little snot, does whatever he wants. Cleopatra gloms on to Minerva whenever she can, but I don't think she gets paid for it. She is really crazy about babies."

Jane yawned. "I'm sorry, Lily, but I really am tired."

Lily admitted, "I really should be in bed too. I will see you in the morning."

2020


	22. Ch 22 Sunday with the Weasley Clan

Ch 22 Sunday with the Weasley Clan

Excellent additions by Deb and a couple of corrections by Diane, my beta readers. Thank you.

* * *

Jane woke up at 8:00 AM to Lily's alarm. "Church?" Jane asked, wondering why Lily was using an alarm and remembered that it was Sunday.

"Not for me," Lily replied as she got out of bed and went to her closet and selected an outfit for the day. "Dad and Albus go to church Saturday night when they can. We go to Sunday breakfast with grandmum and grandpa Sunday mornings. We need to be dressed and leave before 9:00 AM."

The two girls scrambled to get showered and dressed. They entered the drawing room about 8:45 AM. Mrs. Potter was sitting in a chair nursing a toddler, and when the little girl saw her sister and Jane she let go of Mrs. Potter's breast, waved a hand and mouthed, "Mu, mu, mu." She looked at Mr. Potter. "Da, Da, Da." She smiled at her mother, patted her mother's breast, latched on for a couple more bits of milk, and then let go.

"Finished, Minerva?" Mrs. Potter wondered as she pulled Minerva close and raspberried her belly, before holding her close.

Minerva buried her head between Mrs. Potter's breasts, wiggled in contentment, then turned and reached up her hands to Mr. Potter. Mr. Potter picked up Minerva, and Mrs. Potter finally covered up, fastening her bra over her exposed breast and doing something to cover the bra.

Jane looked over to see a good looking adolescent boy, obviously just needing to shave, as tall as Mr. Potter or maybe just a little taller. She guessed, from Lily's description from the night before, that this was James, although he was more grown up than the last photo of him in the Prophet over two years ago. James grinned at Jane, then looked contently at his mother and little sister. Jane noticed that James did not seem embarrassed seeing his mother exposing her breast. James had the red hair of his mother and sister, in a stylish longish cut, and was dressed in clothes that were casual but well put together. James radiated an easy self-confidence.

"I'm James Potter," he waved. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

"I'm Jane Clark, and I'm running away from home. I spent the night with Lily, and I think I'm going to Switzerland with your family."

Jane looked over to Mrs. Potter again. Mrs. Potter had taken out her mobile, and was looking at something and doing something. She was obviously trying to figure something out. Eventually she took out her wand and touched her ear. Jane noticed what looked like a hearing aid behind her right ear, and what looked like one of those earphones that took up the whole ear that some musicians wore in the right ear. She touched her wand to the thing in her ear five times, then held up her hand to Mr. Potter. Mrs. Potter stood up, swayed a little while Mr. Potter helped steady her, and touched the wand to the thing in her ear a couple more times. "It is not going to be a good balance day," she finally admitted with a sigh.

Mrs. Potter looked over to a slightly confused Jane. "Do you know about Quidditch?" Jane's nodded, so she went on to say, "A Bludger hit my ear and messed with my hearing and balance," Mr. Potter then touched her ear. "The hearing came back really mixed up, with some frequencies loud and some soft, and which frequencies are loud and which are soft change. I have five settings. The program links to my mobile with some sort of colored toothy thing, so I can get the right program."

"Bluetooth," James whispered, rolling his eyes with both frustration and amusement at her mother's description of how the hearing aids and Magical/Muggle mobile communicated.

"I have a healer and a Goblin that have worked on something to help with the balance," Mrs. Potter continued, ignoring her oldest son. "One of the hearing settings links with a balance something and I can almost walk without losing my balance, and three other programs with a couple of balance settings, and it's not too bad. The last setting links with three balance settings, none of which are good. That is what I am dealing with today. It is not going to be a good balance day." Mrs. Potter shrugged as if this was just something she had to put up with.

Mr. Potter and Mrs. Potter were touching, and they looked at each other with love that was so real Jane thought she could almost feel it. They kissed a passionate lover's kiss, holding it a long time. They looked at Minerva with so much love that Jane knew she was looking at a "love child," a child that was a visible expression of how much Minerva's parents loved each other.

Lily sighed. "I hope I have a marriage like mum and dad. They live each other SO MUCH." James smiled in agreement.

"You going to kiss Erica like that?" Lily kidded James. James just smiled back. It didn't take much to guess that this Erica was James's girlfriend.

Jane thought that at times her father kissed her mother in a way that was less this kind of mutual love and more an expression of dominance.

Albus was awake and dressed a little after 8:00 AM, and he woke up Scorpius as soon as he was ready.

"I'm glad I'm here, I'm not looking forward to going back to Malfoy Manor," Scorpius declared, grumbling a bit. "I am still trying to digest what we learned last night. I do not trust my father. I really do not like it that I do not know what happened to me yesterday. Cleo says that the same thing happened at least once before. Whatever it is, I think it is something bad." He gave a shiver of revulsion.

"I do not know if I can help you," Albus confessed, looking sadly at his friend. "I will if I can, and I know my father will do everything he can to help you, he and the whole Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

"I know," Scorpius agreed. "I just do not like it."

They came down into the drawing room about 8:50 to see Albus's mother and father kissing. Albus grinned at Scorpius.

"I've never seem my mother and father kiss," Scorpius complained. "Your mother and father are so much in love!"

About 8:55 AM the Potter family and guests went through the closet network to the New Burrow, a little of the green powder that accompanied a Floo trip automatically dispensed. As they exited the Closet in the New Burrow an elevator door that was located next door to the Closet opened and Charlie Weasley and his nurse helper Caroline Fawcett exited. Charlie was driving his wheelchair with his one functioning arm, but Caroline was close at hand. Jane could see that one half of Charlie, what little was left, was burned, and that he had lost both legs and one arm. Jane had a hard time believing that someone so damaged was still alive.

"Hello, Potter family," Caroline cheerily intoned. "I see you have a new guest. I'm Caroline Fawcett, and I help take care of Charlie. Who are you?" Caroline moved to block Charlie from her view.

Jane had looked at what was left of Charlie with horror, having a hard time not staring but at the same time having a hard time even looking at him. She looked away from Charlie and right at Caroline, and replied, "I'm Jane Clark."

"Whose guest are you?" Caroline asked as the people made their way to the kitchen and dining room area, both rooms open to each other to hold the expanding Weasley clan.

Jane looked at Lily, who volunteered, "Jane slept in my room, but just because mum and dad and Mrs. Blackburn asked. They said you are only going to be staying with me for a couple of nights."

"I guess I'm going to Switzerland?" Jane asked, looking for some confirmation. Just then she saw Cleo and Rose with a man she was reasonably sure was Rose's father.

"She is going to Switzerland with us," Cleo confirmed, having heard Jane's question. "We have plenty of rooms in the castle."

James turned and rounded on Cleo. "You keep talking like it is YOUR castle."

Cleo kept silent, not knowing how to answer James. When she was in in Switzerland she did feel like the castle was home, not maybe only her home but home to her.

"Father, this is Jane Clark, the girl I told you about," Rose jumped in with, trying to head off Janes trying to pick a fight with Cleo.

Jane recognized Mr. Ron Weasley from photographs of him in the Prophet. "Hello, Mr. Weasley," Jane responded.

Just then the Magical/Muggle mobiles of Harry Potter and Arthur Weasley rang. They both answered. Mr. Arthur Weasley confirmed, "We will expect you momentarily, and we will meet in the living room. Use the kitchen Floo or the Closet. We do have a Floo in the living room, but activating it is not easy. I will tell Molly and the crowd to direct people there."

Both Arthur and Harry terminated their mobile calls within seconds of each other.

"We are convening a brief meeting concerning Scorpius and Cleopatra," Arthur announced. "Send people to the living room."

Arthur and Harry left for the living room. Shortly afterwards Hermione came through the Closet with Kingsley Shacklebolt. Percy Weasley followed them, accompanied by two witches, all carrying parchment or books.

Lavender and her husband Gray followed, Gray accompanied by Lumos, the Elf that helped serve as his eyes. Jane could see that Gray was blind. Gus Gudgeon was with them. Rose told Jane, "That is three-fourths of the Domestic Affairs unit of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. The other witch is a healer that works with families that need long term counseling. There are a couple of Aurors that help sometimes, and other DMLE officers. Mrs. Blackburn runs the department."

Finally, Minerva McGonagall and Neville Longbottom came striding through the house towards the living room.

"Is that the headmistress of Hogwarts?" Jane squeaked, her eyes wide as she took in the famous people, "And Neville 'Snakeslayer' Longbottom?"

"That's Frank Longbottom the second's dad," Rose confirmed, pointing over to a young man who looked like his father, but thinner. Frank was standing next to a girl who Jane recognized as Roxanne Weasley. Frank and Roxanne came over to where Scorpius and Cleopatra were standing, and Frank asked, "What is going on?"

"I guess my father is not very happy with me," Scorpius quipped. "He wanted me to stay at Malfoy Manor all summer, but I am going to Switzerland with the other Magic and Elf Language Learners. When he ordered us to stay Cleo and I just left."

"And you are both underage, so you are considered runaways?" Frank asked.

Scorpius, Cleopatra, and Jane all nodded yes.

"Who are you?" Frank asked, looking at Jane and trying to place her. "Did you run away from Malfoy Manor too?"

"I just ran away from my father, who doesn't believe in magic," Jane stated.

"Do you have a name, Miss Runaway?" Frank wondered.

"Jane Clark," Jane replied.

More of the family started to congregate around Scorpius, Cleopatra, and the Potter family, who all tried to explain what was going on. It was a mad house of noise and voices and Jane looked around wondering how anyone could hear anyone, but it seemed that they could and did.

About twenty minutes after the meeting started in the living room it began to break up. Percy came out first, with the two witches that had accompanied him. "You can file the paperwork and go home," Percy told the witches. "You both should take some comp time off next week to make up for being called in early Sunday morning."

Before Percy could say any more, the crew from the Domestic Affairs Department left.

Neville Longbottom was next. He made a beeline for his son Frank and Frank's fiancée Roxanne, telling them, "The flats for you in Longbottom Mansion are ready. You can move in any time."

He then announced, "There is a rumor that the owner of the Leaky Cauldron and the Assistant Headmaster of Hogwarts are engaged in a passionate love affair. I'd better go over to the Leaky and confirm the rumor."

"Tell mother Roxanne and I will see her tomorrow after work," Frank told his father.

"I will see you at school, Scorpius 'Snakeslayer' Malfoy," Neville joked in parting.

Scorpius covered his eyes with his hands and shook his head 'no' as his ears turned pink. This was the famous Mr. Neville "Snakeslayer" Longbottom, one of the Heroes of Hogwarts, confirming the "Snakeslayer" title on him. It was embarrassing.

Minerva McGonagall followed. She looked around and saw Cleopatra holding baby Minerva. The headmistress went over to where Cleo was holding the toddler, and asked, "Do you think I could hold my namesake, Miss Smith."

Jane could see Cleopatra reluctantly give the baby to the headmistress, and the normally stern appearance of the headmistress noticeably soften.

Finally, Arthur, Harry, and Kingsley Shacklebolt came out of the living room. Kingsley went over to Scorpius and with a big laugh presented him with a copy of a parchment. "All the documents refer to you as Scorpius Hyperon 'Snakeslayer' Malfoy. Good for you! I've never much liked your father, but from what I have been told you are a real credit to the Malfoy name."

Scorpius responded, happily embarrassed as he took the parchments, "Thank you, sir."

"I've asked Minerva and Kingsley to stay and have breakfast with us," Arthur announced to the room as everyone began making their ways to the table.

"Your family is on first name basis with the minister of magic and the headmistress of Hogwarts?" Jane asked in amazement. "I've never met anyone important."

"They are all just people," Cleo replied. "We talk to everyone at Hogwarts. It is only some of the pure blood idiots that think they are better than anyone else, and they are not." She took Jane's arm and led her to a spot at a table.

"Cleo and Rose work with all the students in Switzerland in the summer," Albus added with pride. "They do not care if you are important or not, if your parents are rich or poor. We, they, are all just people."

Breakfast was served at two large tables, one for the adults, one for the children. Jane noticed that Fred Weasley, his wife and baby, were at the adult table. "What are you going to do when you have children?" Jane asked Roxanne at one point.

Roxanne looked over to Victoire, who apparently ran the cousins. Victoire thought, "We may need a third table at some point." Victoire looked at Roxanne, but also young Molly Weasley who with Rich Hudson had joined the conversation, pointedly asking, "Especially if we have a couple more babies next summer."

Both couples blushed. Both brides were looked at Cleopatra. For some reason it was hard to be around Cleopatra and not think that having a baby or three would be a very good thing.

Breakfast morphed into a casual brunch as people left in small groups. By the middle of the afternoon the Potter family was back at twelve Grimmauld Place. Mrs. Potter went up to Lily's room with Lily and Jane, and looked over Jane's clothes. "We will fill out your wardrobe in Switzerland," Mrs. Potter announced as she put down the worn clothes that Jane had managed to grab when she packed.

"How am I going to pay you?" Jane asked with horror.

Ginny sat on the bed, helping her look the child in the eyes, "You are going to be nice to other people when you grow up, Jane," Ginny gently replied. "You are going to remember how good people took you in and took care of you. Then you have an obligation to do the same to other people. You can start right now by being nice, by being willing and eager to help."

"Is there anything I can do right now?" Jane asked.

"No," Ginny replied. "Just be up and packed and ready to leave by 8:00 AM tomorrow morning."

After dinner, with a little help from Albus, Jane found a book to read. Lily had a hard time sitting still, and she spend some time on her broom in the garden area between the houses.

2020


	23. Ch 23 Switzerland again for Albus and h

Ch 23 Switzerland again for Albus and his friends

More additions to this chapter by Deb, plus as of 5/17/2020 I revised chapter 21 per her suggestion. Help from Diane as well. Thank you both.

* * *

Jane packed her backpack Monday morning, and looked at Lily, who did not seem to be doing anything to get ready to leave. "Are you going to Switzerland today?" Jane asked.

"No, it's just stupid language and politics," Lily scoffed, looking completely disgusted with the idea. "James and I are going to stay here and fly and spent time with the cousins. When mum goes over later we will spend time at the New Burrow with grandmother."

At breakfast Harry announced to Scorpius, "Dis was finally able to leave Malfoy Manor late last night. I'm glad that Mr. Gudgeon is talking to Mr. Malfoy instead of me. He did not have an easy time last night, and the next couple of days are not going to be any easier."

After breakfast, Ginny told Harry, "I will be there this afternoon to shop for clothes for Jane and help get her settled." She and Harry kissed like they were going to be parted for a long time.

Harry took Albus, Scorpius and Jane through the Floo to the Ministry of Magic, where they met Hermione, Rose, Cleo and her guard Elf Dis. Dobedo, Harry's guard Elf, and Frerin, Albus's guard Elf, were with them, along with Jim Snook, the head Auror guard for the Potter and Weasley families.

"Jane come with me, we need to get your papers in order," Hermione told Jane. She took Jane to a room where she was issued a temporary passport. From there they took an International Floo first to France, and then on to Switzerland. They were directed to a special "Passport and wand control" station, where everybody except Jane was waved through. Hermione and Jane spent some time as the temporary passport was examined, but eventually they waved Jane through.

Jim Snook told the crowd that their transportation was waiting for them. Jane looked in awe as they were led through the reception area to a private exit, and into a private bus. Jane noticed that Magi on brooms in Auror uniforms flew above the bus, two in front and two in back.

"How important are you?" Jane asked Cleo in awe.

"Mr. Potter is the Regent," Cleo thoughtfully replied. "One of his descendants will be the next ruler of the Valley. I think it will be Albus and me, but we are not sure. There are people trying to kill us, which is why we have these guards."

Jane whispered and giggled, "Are you going to marry Albus?"

Cleo quietly answered, her face lighting up with joy, "Oh, yes! He's finally growing up. When we are old enough we will marry."

"What about Rose and Scorpius?" Jane asked as she looked over at the other two who were quietly conversing.

"Scorpius has a girlfriend, and Rose doesn't want a boyfriend," Cleo replied. She thought that Rose and Scorpius would be together eventually, but she was not sure.

The bus drove down to the lowest road that went around the valley, and stopped at what looked like a three story fairy-tale castle. As you drove across the large, open plaza to the castle you could see that there were many floors below the floor that was on the level of the road. There was an imposing, seven tiered fountain in the plaza, but it was dry.

"It looks so much better without that stupid wall," Cleo told Albus, smiling. "It almost feels like coming home."

Albus nodded. It was hard to find the words to express it, but there was something about the castle, about the whole of the Swiss valley, which called to him. It was at the same time familiar and frightening. Albus was all too aware that what the future held was dangerous, and that if he and Cleo did end up as rulers of the valley it would probably come at a terrible cost.

Albus smiled at Cleo. Their fate was their fate. He just had to do his best to be the best wizard he could be.

Jane looked at awe at the group she was riding with. Her father was a cook at a restaurant, with a job that was adequate to support himself and her but no more, in a medium sized British town. She had shown some signs of magic when her mother was living, but other than that she was as average a student as you could be. Nothing could have prepared her for staying with this extraordinary group of people. When her mother died, they had to leave the house where her mother had grown a garden with many magical and non-magical plants and helped support them, and move into a flat. They were not exactly destitute, but they were borderline poor.

The group entered a large hall, and were met by a wizard and a goblin, both in expensive suits that looked like a cross between modern Muggle clothes and medieval robes. There were several beings surrounding these two.

"Goblin Zefenslot, Gerhard, thank you for meeting us," Harry bowed. "I expect you have things you want each of us to do."

Gerhard spoke to Cleo first. "Cleopatra, Mrs. Zwiefollhofer has arranged for children to show you flag designs. Only some of the children have flag designs, but most classes would like to accompany their classmates to show you the flag design or two they settled on. The students will start coming here later this morning to show you their ideas. Your companions Rose Weasley and Scorpius 'Snakeslayer' Malfoy may accompany you." Gerhard grinned at the mention of 'Snakeslayer,' and most people recognized that Gerhard was kidding Scorpius.

"Albus, if you would, accompany your father. We have many business matters to discuss, and Goblin Zefenslot and I agree that it is time for you to listen in."

"Yes, sir," Albus replied with resignation. He would have preferred joining his friends, but if his father and Mr. Richter thought he needed to sit through sometimes boring business meetings, that is what he was going to have to do.

Jane could sense that Albus was being treated as someone being groomed for leadership.

Gerhart looked questionably at Jane, and Cleo jumped in with, "Jane is our guest, and she can stay with us."

Gerhart nodded.

Most of the people left for their assignments. Rahel Zwiefollhofer indicated a table and some chairs on top of a raised area at the back of the hall. "We would like you to sit here, Cleo, Rose," Rahel told Cleo and Rose. "That way people can see you when they come in, and you can show flags to people and they can see them."

A young man who Jane recognized as Rich Hudson strode up to Scorpius, saying, "Mother told me I could cover Cleo while she tried to cover the rest of the International Conference of Witches and Wizards. I should have told you something about this yesterday at breakfast. I know my mother worked with you last year."

"Are Brenda Starr and Jimmy Olsen going to be reporting for their papers?" Scorpius asked. "I like Mr. Olsen, but Ms. Starr tries to make everything sensational."

"The reporters for _The Magical Local_ and _The Metro Magi_ are going to be kept outside, and they are not happy about it," Rich told the group. "I am going to serve as a pool reporter. My father is a news photographer, and he has taught me, so I am going to be taking photographs of the gathering.

"Scorpius, I would appreciate you doing your best to document things, especially if I am busy taking photographs. We can compose a news release and maybe a joint article or two."

Scorpius suggested, "Jimmy Olsen of _The Magical Local_ is a nice person. I would not mind giving him some information before Brenda Starr."

"You have to be careful showing too much favoritism," Rich cautioned. "We are also going to be writing articles for _The Daily Prophet_ in Britain, _The Magical Times_ in the United States, and several other publications."

Jane watched in awe as one group of school children after another was led in. Rose did seem to have a very good sense of color and design, and at times children left with suggestions on how to improve their design. Cleo was eager to see all the new flag designs.

Some of the drawings were not flag designs at all, but other drawings of a variety of things. Cleo gushed over all of them. There was some magic in the way Cleo reacted to all of the children, and it was obvious that most of the children who came to see her though she was someone special.

They took a break for lunch in the hall at about 12:30. Cleo grumbled, "I'd rather be outside, but after what happened at the restaurant last year we had better eat inside. I hope we can go outside to the restaurant at least once."

"What happened last year?" Jane wondered.

"Someone planted a bomb in the restaurant trying to kill us." Cleo sighed. "It killed an Auror. We went to her funeral. She had a husband and three young children. You can hear, 'an Auror was killed' and think it is just a dangerous job, but when you meet her husband and children the tragedy become very real. I do not want to ever risk anyone's life because I'm doing something stupid."

Jane realized that there was a good reason this group of people had guards and were cautious. These people were prominent, but also in danger. Maybe it was better to be ordinary.

As lunch was finished a woman with a small baby came into the room from one direction, and Mrs. Potter and Minerva came from another direction. They met Cleo up on the raised platform Cleo and Rose were using to meet the children of the valley.

"Prophetess Papadopoulos!" Cleo shrieked. "Is that your baby?"

"Yes, thanks to you, Hermes and I have a daughter," the lady answered. "I would like to introduce you to Sophia."

"Just because we went to that fountain and prayed?" Cleo wondered, then grinned. "I'm sure you and your husband doing what married people do was the most important, and enjoyable, part." Cleo smiled, her huge mouth almost touching her ears. "I think I am going to enjoy everything about being a mother, from what you do to make a baby to carrying this new life inside you to having my breasts grow and making milk and nursing babies. It all just seems so much what I was made for."

Jane looked at her flat front, and at Cleo's already substantial superstructure. She didn't know much about how you made babies, or how your body changed when you were pregnant. Maybe she could ask Mrs. Potter, although that would be really embarrassing.

"Actually giving birth is hard work," Sibylla Papadopoulos remarked. "Nursing is enjoyable, but it sure ties you down. And you do not get much sleep the first weeks. Sophia is just sleeping enough at night that I do not wake up tired all the time." Sibylla turned to Ginny, wondering, "How long was it before you were able to sleep through the night?"

"They were all different," Ginny remarked. "James was eager to wean. I think Albus would have nursed for years if I had let him. He was particularly fond of my breasts, Lily was fussy and couldn't make up her mind. She started out being just the best baby, but the older she was the harder she was to take care of. Still is. Lily is my wild child.

"Minerva is my easiest baby by far. She slept through the night reasonably early, and you could nurse her in the middle of the night or early in the morning and then put her right back to sleep. She seems to be content to stay awake when we want her awake and to sleep when we want her to sleep."

Minerva looked up at her mother and hugged her, padded her mother's front, and mouthed, "Mu, mu, mum". She did seem to be a loving and easy going baby.

"Is Jane going to sleep with you," Ginny asked Cleo and Rose.

There was an Elf with the uniform of the Elves of the Regent there, and she replied, "We have Mistress Cleopatra and Rose in the same room, and have added an extra bed. The room is big enough. I will lead you there."

"Thank you," Ginny replied. Ginny put Minerva back in some sort of pram that allowed her to sit up and look out. Ginny held on to the pram tightly, gripping her wand in one hand, as Mitzi Ginny's Elf hovered close and occasionally caught Ginny when it looked like she was beginning to lose her balance. Two Aurors, one from Britain, one from Switzerland, followed, one ahead, one behind, obviously guarding Ginny. Ginny, Jane and the others went down stairs to a room on the outside of the castle.

The room was reasonably large, with an ensuite bathroom. There were three beds lined up along one wall.

Ginny changed Minerva as various people used the loo, and then put her down on the floor. Minerva crawled over to one of the beds, and pulled herself up. She walked around the bed until she was between two beds, and then gingerly walked the four steps between one bed and the other one.

"You can do it!" Ginny exclaimed.

Minerva went to her hands and knees again and crawled over to her mother.

"Once James learned how to walk he wanted to run everywhere," Ginny mused. "He had two speeds as a toddler, frantic and asleep. Minerva is so calm compared to my other three. I would have another one if I could be sure she was as calm as Minerva, but I'd probably get another frantic one.

"Put your clothes on this bed, Jane, and let us see what you have."

Jane took out all of her clothes except her undergarments.

"Do you have knickers?" Ginny asked. "Do you have anything you wear under a blouse?"

Embarrassed, Jane brought out one singlet, and three pairs of knickers. "I could not bring all my clothes," Jane admitted.

"How old are you, Jane?" Ginny asked.

"Eleven."

"Have you had a period yet?" Ginny wondered. There were none of the knickers that witches wore when they had their periods.

Jane looked at Ginny, horrified. She shook her head 'no.'

"Do you know about periods?" Ginny wondered, very aware of Jane's reaction.

Jane shrugged her shoulders, obviously both embarrassed and afraid.

Ginny thought back to her discussions with Harry concerning Magi maturing early at Hogwarts. Magi did mature a little earlier than Muggles, but something was happening at Hogwarts to cause them to mature even faster. If Jane went to Hogwarts she would almost certainly have her first period before the end of her first year. This was probably not the time to talk about it, however.

"I'm going to buy you a couple of knickers if your first period starts over the next couple of weeks," Ginny told Jane. "We will talk more about boys and girls and growing up this summer."

Jane kept quiet. The last two years she had been raised by her father. She had not talked to anyone in her mother's family since well before her mother had died, and they seldom saw anyone in her father's family. Her father never talked about any personal matters. Maybe she could talk to Mrs. Potter about embarrassing personal things.

Ginny took Jane shopping, and they purchased a rolling suitcase that was about four times larger on the inside than the outside, and a modest selection of clothes. Jane changed into one of the new dresses. They were back at the large hall about 4:00 PM.

"I want to be back home in time for dinner," Ginny told the group when there was a free moment. Then she left for home.

* * *

At 6:00 PM Cleo, Rose and Scorpius finished for the day.

Rich announced, "Scorpius and I have to write an article and get some additional information to the other reporters." Scorpius and Rose looked at each other.

Rose had been thinking how grown up and, yes, handsome, Scorpius looked. Two years ago he was a child not yet starting adolescent, but over the last two years he had become handsome. Oh, well, he had a girlfriend. She didn't think she was ready for a boyfriend. It would still be nice if she could have dinner with him. It wasn't like she was ugly or anything, either.

Scorpius had been looking at all the children of different ages as they came in, and also reflecting on Cleo and Rose, and Rose, and Rose wasn't the little girl he met two years ago.

Unlike Cleo, who almost always wore a dress and looked maternally feminine, Rose was... Rose was following in her mother's footsteps and often wore a trousers suit, but the trousers covered a very nice and feminine pair of hips, and she wasn't flat on top either. He knew he shouldn't be thinking of Rose like that, and besides Rose had made it very clear she wasn't ready for a boyfriend.

Rich looked at Scorpius and Rose looking at each other, and grinned. "Would you like to eat with us, Rose?" he asked.

"Thank you, yes," Rose replied.

"You can eat with me," Cleo told Jane. They removed to a reasonably large dining room. One of the Elves who had been helping said something to a couple of Elves at the door. Cleo, Dis and Jane were led over to one table, Rose, Scorpius and Rich to another one at the edge of the room. Rose, Scorpius and Rich all took out laptop computers or tablets, and Rich took out a camera and did something to send photographs to all three devices.

"Is that technology or magic?" Jane wondered as she watched the other group.

"I expect that the Muffliato spell is being used to keep their discussions from bothering the rest of the dining room," Cleo explained, looking over to where the others were working. "The rest is mostly Muggle technology."

Three menus appeared on the table. Cleo explained that you could choose one of two appetizers, one of two main courses, one of two vegetables, and one of two desserts. Dis pointed to one of each, and the menu disappeared. Jane pointed to an item on the menu, and Cleo took out her wand and touched it. Jane pointed out the other three items, Cleo touched her wand to the item, and at the last item the menu disappeared.

Cleo spent a few moments longer to make her choice. When she was finished she did some weird waving of her wand, the menu disappeared, and eight recipe cards flew into her hands. A short time later a wizard in a cook's hat came out, furious. When he saw Cleopatra his face went from furious to resigned. "Please ask if you want to see a recipe, Miss Cleopatra," he said. "Please keep the recipes secret."

Cleo did something, and like magic the recipe cards disappeared. "I'm sorry," she replied in a small, humble voice, quite embarrassed.

"Most of the staff is willing and even eager to work with you on cooking," the cook replied.

"Oh, thank you!" Cleo exclaimed. "The food here is so good and so interesting."

Jane looked on in wonder. By her words and attitude Cleo had, it seemed, turned what could have been a confrontation into a meeting that foretold a potential friendship.

A large group entered the room. Cleo pointed towards the group, and told Jane, "Albus and his father are with Mr. Richter, the wizard head of the Swiss valley, the Goblin Zefenslot, who is the head goblin, and his grandson Thorin who goes to Hogwarts with us, and the Elves Galadriel and Luthien. They also go to Hogwarts with us."

Rose jumped in with, "My mum is up there too. Winky, her house-elf, must be eating somewhere else. Winky is the most old-fashion house elf you could ever meet. Mum is embarrassed to own her, but mum says that owning Winky has also taught her about the old-fashion house elf relationships in a way nothing else could."

Albus and Cleo looked at each other, and Albus left the group and walked over to Cleo. They held hands, and Albus told Cleo, "I'm tied up tonight. I will tell you more later."

Jane thought that the emotion flowing between Cleo and Albus was very similar to the emotions flowing between Mr. and Mrs. Potter.

Albus went over to the table where Rose, Scorpius and Rich were hard at work.

"Where have you been?" Rich asked.

"In meetings all day. You can quote me and say I was in boring meetings with my father all day."

"Is that the truth?" Rich pressed.

"Many of them really were boring business meetings, and there are more of them this week. Louis Weasley really likes finance and all that, and I know it is something I have to learn, but it is not the most exciting thing in the world to me or dad."

"But not all business?" Rich wondered.

"That is all I am going to say," Albus countered.

Scorpius, Rose and Rich looked at each other and sighed. It was going to be their job to say as little as possible about what Albus was doing, while making their readers feel they were being honest and forthcoming.

After dinner most of the people left. Scorpius, Rose and Rich were left working at their table, and they had summoned another table. On it was what looked like a Muggle printer and some other gadget that had two quills, ink, and a stack of parchment.

Rich complained, "There are a couple of very old fashion publications that will not take anything not written in parchment with a quill, so we have a printer and what I call a 'writer' that the goblins made for us. They have made a number of these writers for Magi like us who are working between the modern world and the most traditional hidebound Magi."

A short time later Jane saw the printer printing, the 'writer' writing, and Rich apparently saving something to a number of memory sticks. At about 8:30 PM Rich and Scorpius left to talk to the assembled reporters and file their stories.

Cleo, Rose and Jane headed back to their bedroom. Dis and a couple of Magi parted ways at the door to their room.

When they entered the room, Cleo immediately went over to the console of what was apparently a very large organ. It had three ranks of keys, and what looked like hundreds of knobs and controls. There was a full range of pedals, which Cleo apparently played as well, using one foot while the other usually did something else. Cleo put on a set of headphones, touched something with her wand, and four pages of sheet music appeared. She was quickly lost in her practice.

"That is a duplicate of the console of the large pipe organ in the main church here," Rose explained. "That console can be shrunk, but only so far. Cleo had it at Hogwarts, but nowhere else. She has a smaller portable organ she usually plays. Well, she can make it two ranks if she wants, and it does some other things that this organ cannot do, using magic and muggle technology.

"I tried to learn to play the piano, but apparently do not have much of a sense of rhythm. I played the notes, but I did not like piano practice, and my teacher said it was painful to hear me play."

"How long have you guys been coming here?" Jane asked.

"Cleo and Scorpius came here for the first time last summer," Rose replied. "There used to be a wall in front of the castle, that Albus and Cleo did not like. They were told by Uncle Harry and Mr. Richter that if they could remove it they had permission, so they did. That is when school children started to come in tours, and look at what we were doing, and Cleo suggested they make flags."

Jane indicated that Rose should continue, and Rose told Jane as much as she could remember about the whole summer adventure of the four of them in Switzerland.

About 9:45 PM there was a knock at the door. "That's Albus," Cleo shouted, ripping off the headphones and running for the door. She threw open the door, and there were Albus and Scorpius, Frerin next to Albus, and Rich following. There was a guard in the hallway watching.

"Come in, come in," Cleo beckoned. "How was your day?"

"Full of boring meetings, as Scorpius wrote," Albus replied. There was something in the way Albus said it that implied that the day was not as boring as they told the press.

"Scorpius and I are learning how to handle the press," Rich explained.

"There is more going on," Rose demanded, hands on her hips.

(Nice hips, Scorpius thought, before trying not to focus on how attractive Rose was.)

Albus looked at Jane, thinking. "Jane, do you mind if I do a spell that will allow you to remember what we are talking about, but not share it unless we allow it? Anything you see in public you can share, but if it is just the people in the room, what we talk about is private."

Jane nodded her head yes.

"I need to hear you say it," Albus went on. "Say, I will let you perform the privacy spell, please."

"Please perform the privacy spell," Jane replied, a bit excited and nervous to have magic being performed on her.

Albus took out his wand, had everyone else take out their wands, and they all touched Jane's head. Albus did something else, waving his wand, touching everybody. It was obviously a complex non-verbal spell. Jane did not feel any different when it was finished, but the rest of the people in the room seemed satisfied.

"We learned something like that in advanced journalism training, but that's way beyond a seventh year spell, Albus," Rich commented. "Can you really do all the spells, including seventh year spells, and beyond?"

"Magic has always come easily to me," Albus admitted.

Rich just shook his head. Rich had known Albus since he was a baby, but he could still surprise you.

Albus waved his wand, and a circle of comfortable chairs appeared.

"We know that house elves, Elves, Goblins, Metal Working Elves or Metal Working Dwarves, half-elf half-goblin beings, are all descendent from the original High Elves," Albus stated without preamble. "For the first time in centuries the original High Elf wands, the wand of Galadriel which is the first wand, not made in this world, and the wand of her consort, Thorin's wand, are being used. Galadriel and Thorin are betrothed. They are waiting for the right time to marry. When they do they will be High Elves, and it will be their job to unite their people.

"There are tokens and other things going on that we are not involved with. A few of us, my father and I, Mr. Richter, have to know what is going on, but it is not our story.

"Cleo, you just need to keep doing what you are doing. You too, Rose, Scorpius. I'm learning that it looks like we could win, but not without much pain and sorrow."

"How soon will all this happen?" Rose wondered.

"Not right away, but soon," Albus replied. "Too soon. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow, and we ought to break for bed."

The males left for another room, and everyone went to bed.

2020


	24. Ch 24 Dinner with the Pott

Ch 24 Dinner with the Potters

Significant additions by Deb, plus a moderately important change in the story, with more helpful comments and corrections by Diane. Thank you.

* * *

Jane woke up to see Cleopatra silently playing the organ, and Rose just getting out of the bathroom, using her wand to dry and comb her hair. Rose's hair was brown with red highlights, very thick and bushy, down to her shoulders. Jane looked at Cleo, who had two very thick plaits of hair bouncing on her back as she practiced the organ. Jane felt her thin, straight, mousey brown hair. She was Plain Jane, nothing special about her.

"Put your dirty clothes in the hamper at the end of the bed," Rose suggested when she noticed that Jane was awake. "The Elves will wash them."

Jane did, thinking how her mother did laundry. Her mother had a tub with water that was magically hot. She waved her wand at the dirty clothes, and one at a time they flew through the water, came out clean, would dry as they folded themselves into neat piles. When her mother died she and her father had to use a laundromat to wash clothes.

"Use the shower next," Rose told Jane. Jane was amazed by the en-suite bathroom, but it was confusing so Rose pointed out its features and how to use them. There was a large tub and a separate shower in one room, with some sort of place where you could stand and it would magically dry you. There was another room for the loo, both rooms off a room with a double sink with the wall above the sink all mirrored. It was all marble, but somehow with magic it was comfortable on your bare feet. The towels were always, according to Rose, newly washed and dry.

When Jane was finished Cleo went into the shower. Rose was dressed when she came out of the shower, but Cleo only wore a bra and knickers when she came out. Cleo used her wand, dried her unbound (and very messy) hair, and the plaits reformed. Cleo slid on a dress, put on thin slippers, and bounced towards the door.

"Is she always so …?" Jane asked, trying to come up with a way to ask Rose about Cleo's exuberance.

"Pretty much," Rose replied with a smirk. "Pretty much and sometimes too much. She can be rather bouncy.

"We are in the same dorm room at Hogwarts, and attend the same classes, but Scorpius and I don't usually study with her and Albus, and she is almost never my partner in classes."

"Scorpius?" Jane asked. "Is he your partner?"

Rose's face turned red, and she hoped Scorpius couldn't hear them, as the girls left the bedroom. "Well, he and I are the best students in the class. We are both really smart, but we both also work really hard."

Cleo looked back, saw Rose and Jane talking, and went bouncing on ahead to some unheard tune, her hands at times playing an imaginary instrument.

"Is Albus smart?" Jane asked, wondering about what kind of students they all were.

"Oh, Albus and Cleo are in a different league altogether. Albus started Hogwarts knowing almost all the seventh-year spells, and he has just become better. He invented or helped with some of the mapping spells that his father is credited with developing, did that before he even left for Hogwarts and was allowed to use a wand.

"Cleopatra may be the most powerful Magi in the world, but she does magic differently than most Magi, and she has a hard time controlling it. At class we are taught a spell, then Albus goes off with Cleo to show her the spell, and by the end of the class she can almost always do it, but silently and usually differently than anyone else."

"So Your mother is Vice-Minister of Magic in Great Britain, your father is a partner in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and your uncle is Harry Potter?" Jane confirmed. "What are you going to do?"

"I do not know," Rose sighed. "I do not want to be a workaholic like my mother. Anything I think I would like to do seems so insignificant compared to what my mother and father have done." Rose looked rather morose at her future.

Jane had always assumed that being a child of rich and famous parents was a good thing. It was turning out more complicated than she had assumed.

The same people from the night before were at breakfast. Rich, Scorpius, and Rose ate at the same, this time larger, table with Cleo, Dis, and Jane. A cook brought out the menu to their table, and had a brief conversation with Cleo. Cleo seemed excited about something, and the cook went back to the kitchen smiling.

Tuesday Jane was a little less overwhelmed. She had a good chance to look at the people she was with. Rich looked like a young, professional reporter. Scorpius was also very young, a teen-ager, but he was much better dressed than most teen-age boys. Jane thought the typical teen-age boy dressed like a slob. Scorpius wore neat, pressed, obviously expensive trousers and good looking dress shirts, and was always neat and well put together. He was handsome, and he could have easily been in a clothing advert.

Jane's first impression of Rose was that she was wearing a very businesslike trousers' suit. That was true, but everything about her appearance was well put together. From the hairband that did it's best to control her thick mop of hair, to the matching earrings and watch, to the detailing on the blouse and trousers, she radiated both competence and femininity. Over the week Jane noticed that every day Rose wore a different outfit, with a different watch, or at least a different colored and decorated watch.

Rose carried a portfolio with paper and drawing instruments, some of which must have been magical. Jane noticed two things about Rose and her art. Rose was obviously very talented, and appeared to be a good teacher. She was also meticulously well organized, with never anything out of place. The portfolio and a small purse Rose also carried seemed to contain everything she needed. There were no noticeable pockets in her clothing.

Cleo by contrast never carried a purse, but her pockets were a wonder of things that she might need. More than one child had a runny nose, and Cleo could pull a large box of tissues out of her pocket, or a never ending pile of handkerchiefs. She occasionally took out a book or two. There was way more in the pockets than would normally fit, but the pockets looked like they had things in them. That was one of the reasons Cleo always looked frumpy, more like an occasionally distracted mother than a stylish young girl.

At times looking at the artwork was messy. That did not seem to bother Rose, but she made sure she was clean and neat after any messy encounter. She also tried to keep Cleo clean and neat, with only modest success (much to Jane's secret amusement and Rose's exasperation). It seemed to be an on-going thing between the two of them. Rose fussed over Cleo's appears and Cleo would just shrug and go about her business.

On Tuesday and for the rest of the week, when the group broke for dinner, Rose quickly changed from the trousers' suit to a dress. Rose and Scorpius were a good looking pair, except they were not exactly a pair, except they were.

Cleo was at the same time the most feminine, almost for a young girl motherly, figure, and at the same time not particularly pretty. She was great in small doses, but Jane was glad that she did not have to interact with her all the time.

Friday afternoon Ginny and her entourage showed up, Minerva plus Mitzi the Elf and Sue Shook, her Auror guard. They went to the quarters of the Regent to leave their luggage, and then left for the main hall where Rose, Cleo and Scorpius were. The first person to see her walking in was Jane, and Jane ran over to greet her, cooing at baby in the pram.

"How are you doing, Jane?" Ginny asked.

"I am fine," she replied. "Many things are confusing, but people are nice. How are you and the baby?"

Jane looked at Minerva, who held her hands up, saying "Ma, Ma, Mu, Mu, Uu, Uu."

"You may pick her up, if you want to," Ginny told Jane when Jane looked to her for interpretation and permission.

Jane picked up Minerva, who proceeded to grab on to Jane's neck and plant a wet, sloppy kiss on her face. Jane had never picked up a baby, and this sloppy kiss was obviously unexpected.

Ginny laughed. "Babies are not the neatest of creatures," she giggled. "Sit down. You and I need to talk."

Jane nervously looked around. Ginny had maneuvered her to a group of chairs on the edge of the large room, and was gesturing for her to sit.

"I do not have to go back to my father, do I?" a worried Jane asked once they were sitting down.

"No, you do not," Ginny responded. "We are in the middle of an investigation, and there is just enough in your father's history to allow you to leave him if you want to, although we do not think he is a bad man. It is a difficult situation, for you and for him. You will also have to see your father, but not live with him if you do not want to, although it would be ideal if you could become comfortable with each other and reconcile."

Jane looked like she was going to cry. "I think we were happy once," she indicated, "but then things started to happen and I don't know what it was and mum and dad started to fight and get scared, and that scared me."

Ginny continued, "We want to put you back in touch with your mother's family as well, but they are not in a position to take you in right now.

"Now we have to find you a place to live. The Domestic Affairs Unit of the Ministry of Magic has been working on cases like yours for years. They have never had very many at a time, but the total number is large enough that they have some idea how to handle them. They have learned that children raised in a totally Muggle environment do best in a mixed Muggle/Magical environment."

"Like my mother being a witch, but my father being a Muggle?" Jane wondered.

"Your father was never very comfortable with magic," Ginny replied. "You can have both parents or guardians being magical, as long as they are comfortable living partly in the Muggle world."

"Like Rose and Scorpius and Mr. Rich, I do not know his last name, using computers and tablets, but also spells?" Jane wondered.

"Exactly," Ginny agreed. "Oh, he is Rich Hudson. I've known him since he was a baby, so it would be strange for me to call him Mr. Hudson, although I guess I have to consider him an adult now.

"You are going to be going to Hogwarts in the autumn, so we need a home for you to go to in the summer and during vacations. I have talked to Mr. Potter, and to Janes and Lily, and at least for now we would like you to live with us while you are going to Hogwarts, if that is acceptable to you."

"But … but … but you are the famous Harry and Ginny Potter!" Jane exclaimed. "I'm just plain Jane Clark. Why?"

"Why do you call yourself 'plain Jane?'" Ginny wondered.

"That is what my father always calls me," Jane confessed. "He is always telling me that my mother was not pretty, and I am unfortunately just as plain and not pretty as she was. I do not think he was always this way. I do not know what happened. And when I look at Rose and… you, just plain Jane."

"Well," Ginny huffed, "I do not agree with him. You look very nice to me." Ginny was beginning to see how Jane had been emotionally abused, although there was no evidence of physical abuse. Jane's situation was complicated.

"You need a home," Ginny told the young girl. "You seem to fit in with my son Albus's friends We can provide a better home environment than Rose's parents'. I am home much more often than Mrs. Granger-Weasley and Mrs. Blackburn tells me I would be a better foster mother for you than Rose's mother. I guarantee you do not want to live in Malfoy Manor, even if you were welcome there, and you are not.

"You may meet other people who would provide a better home for you over the next seven years, or we may even be able to place you with your grandparents and uncle, but until then you are welcome to live with us."

"Would I share a room with Lily?" Jane thought.

"We have rearranged the top floor," Ginny replied. "Lily had to sacrifice a little space, but her bedroom is no smaller than it was when she was in the nursery. My office is a little smaller as well, but not significantly so. We have made a nice bedroom for you."

"Already?" Jane wondered.

"It is magic," Ginny grinned. "Would you like to live with us?"

"All right," she replied. "Thank you," in a small voice, then louder, "Thank you!"

It was close to 6:00 PM, and the last of the children visiting Cleo and Rose were leaving. Ginny announced, "Rich, we are having a family meal with the children. You can have Scorpius and Rose after dinner."

Rich smiled. "I will hold off the news media," he announced.

When they arrived in the dining hall, Harry and Albus were waiting at a table. "Hermione is eating with the Elves," Harry announced.

Ginny sat down next to Harry, with Minerva on her other side. Cleo plopped herself down next to the toddler, and Albus sat next to her. Scorpius sat next to Albus, and Rose next to Scorpius.

Jane noticed that there was one seat left, next to **Harry Potter.** Oh, my! The famous Harry Potter was the most famous wizard in the world. He waved her over and indicated that she should sit next to him.

Harry bowed his head and prayed, "Lord, bless this family and this meeting of Elves and Magi. Guide our deliberations. Thank you for family and friends, and for all that we have been able to accomplish.

"Amen."

Jane looked straight ahead, afraid to stare at Mr. Potter.

Harry kissed his wife, and then Ginny whispered, "I've asked Jane to stay with us, and she agreed."

Harry looked around, and then told Ginny, "Your announcement."

Ginny looked at the young people at the table. "Over thirty years ago my brother, Uncle Ron, brought home this ill clad friend who was just learning about our magical world. This boy seemed to be accompanied by the most opinionated and insufferable know-it-all of a girl. My parents and our family accepted them both, and they both spent most of the next holidays with us. We never did get rid of them. Ron married the know-it-all girl, Mrs. Granger-Weasley, and I married Harry.

"Our family seems to accumulate people like that. I think Erica and Bill Lionheart spend more of their waking holiday hours flying at The New Burrow with James and Lily than they do at their own home. And of course Albus dragged home Scorpius Malfoy and the ward that has been living with the Malfoys', Cleo. Oh, excuse me, 'Snakeslayer' Malfoy."

The table erupted in a combination of cheers and jeers, and laughter. Scorpius grinned in embarrassment.

"Now Scorpius and Cleopatra have followed in the footsteps of my brother and children and brought another person into our family, Jane Clark. Jane is going to be staying with us when she is not at Hogwarts. Welcome."

Everyone looked at Jane, who gave a shy, timid, wave, her cheeks bright pink.

Harry turned to Jane and kindly said, "Welcome to the family, Jane. I understand that you are going to be living on the top floor. Climbing from the kitchen to your bedroom will give you good practice for Hogwarts."

"Yes, sir," Jane replied softly.

"We will probably spend most of the summer at Potter's New Burrow, the home we built so the cousins could spend some of the holidays together. Do you like to swim?" Harry asked, trying to ease the girl's shyness.

"I only just learned how," Jane admitted.

"You will have plenty of time to practice," Harry explained. "There is a great pond on the property, and most of the cousins and their friends spend a fair amount of time swimming. It is more than just Weasley and Potter's there. The property has a little settlement. Rich Hudson's parents live on the property, as do a number of other people."

Jane looked down at her hands, and then over to Mr. Potter. Harry looked kindly at her. "Is this group of people a little intimidating?" he asked.

Jane shook her head 'yes.'

"Well don't let it, I can guarantee you I put my pants on the same way as your father does and my wife can tell you that occasionally I dribble my coffee down my front. We are just normal people with crazy lives." Harry smiled at her, "I understand what you feel though. When I came to the wizarding world, I was just as overwhelmed as you are now. It can be scary, yet fun and it will change your life and you will be fine." Jane gave him a true smile back at him.

Rose turned to Jane when she noticed that Mr. Potter was done talking to her. "You will be living next door to us. We live at thirteen Grimmauld Place, my mother and father and brother Hugo and Grandmother Granger."

"Is your house like the Potter's," Jane wondered.

"The Potter house was decorated by a professional, so it looks very pretty and, it just looks like the home of a prosperous Magi family," Rose declared. "I've finally talked my parents into buying some proper furniture and decorating the house. The library has nice wood shelves and looks like the library in a prosperous home instead of an odd collection of shelves and piles of books. I talked them into hiring the Potter's decorator, and he let me work with him. Mum even hired a librarian to catalogue and arrange her books. She is amazing. She can read and remember two big tomes a night. We even have a section of the library for scrolls.

"We do not use the dining room much. If mother keeps buying books, we may turn the whole floor into a library. The floor that is the Potter's drawing room is more of a family room. Mum did let the Potter's decorator transform the room into a proper room for entertaining, and we have even had parties when a door opens between the two houses. Usually the room is decorated in a much more casual style. You can change the furniture and décor magically, which is nice, although you have to buy both the good furniture and the casual things, and hide what you do not want.

"Mum, dad, and Grandmother Granger are on the next floor, Hugo and I on the next, and mum and dad share a big office on the top floor."

"Malfoy Manor is a very uncomfortable place," Scorpius lamented when Rose paused. "I wish you could redecorate Malfoy Manor."

"It would take more than furniture and paint to change Malfoy Manor," Rose scoffed.

"It would take a loving couple with some happy children running around," Cleo suggested.

"Mum and dad are not a loving couple," Scorpius grumbled.

"The other Magi and Elf Language Learners should all be here by tomorrow evening." Albus announced, changing the subject. "The opening dance will be tomorrow, and we are all invited. We should be able to start to meet Sunday afternoon or evening. I am not sure if the Elves will be able to meet with us. There are going to be a series of very contentious meetings between the Elves and Goblins, and I am almost sure Galadriel and Thorin and their friends and family are going to be right in the middle of it."

Jane sat silently, listening, as the conversation swirled around her. Eventually, as dinner was finishing, Mrs. Granger-Weasley came over to the table. A chair was brought for her and she sat down between Jane and Mr. Potter.

"Hello, Jane. Welcome to the family. You may call me Aunt Hermione."

"Yes, mam," Jane replied.

"You need to call the aunts and uncles by their first names," Rose explained to Jane, explaining the reason why. "Otherwise there are way too many aunt or uncle Weasley."

"If you cannot have your own mother, mum Potter is a good substitute," Cleo volunteered. "She is WAY better a mum than Scorpius's mum."

The dinner broke up with Scorpius and Rose going off with Rich Hudson, Albus and Cleo talking, and Harry and Hermione reviewing some papers, deep in discussion. Ginny noticed Jane looking very lost. "Stay with me, Jane," Ginny told the overwhelmed girl. "I am going to take Minerva to our quarters, nurse her, and put her to bed. Then we can talk."

Albus told Cleo, "We need to go and talk to the prophets." Albus let his father know, then he and Cleo and their Elves left for the office where the prophets held forth.

2020


	25. Ch 25 The Prophesy Interpretation Depart

APEC Albus Potter, Classmates and Elves. 2018 -2019-2020

APEC Ch 25 The Prophesy Interpretation Department

When Albus and Cleopatra left the room, Harry told Hermione, "It would be nice if prophets could tell the future. All they can do is give you odds, and point you in the right direction, or give you warnings. Everything we are doing, all the intelligence and prophecies, tell us that we are heading in the right direction, but that the victory that we may see will come at a significant cost.

"Albus is taking Cleo down to talk to the prophets. She needs to come to terms with some of the struggles ahead. I think Albus is resigned to his fate, and determined to do all he can to survive and thrive despite the problems."

"A little like Ginny?" Hermione wondered as she stared at her best friend. "She seems thrilled with her life. She is married to Harry Potter, something she thinks is the best thing in the world. Despite the frustrations of raising the children, she feels very proud of her children, happy with her siblings and their spouses. She is happy with her career. The hearing in the one ear is a constant problem, her balance is bad on her good days and terrible on the bad ones, and I know the one leg is not quite right, but she just considers them small problems to put up with."

"Ginny is an amazing woman, and I am so lucky to be married to her," Harry agreed with a nod of his head. "Yes, despite the problems she puts up with, she is basically a very happy person.

"Albus is basically a very good person, and I think good things are ahead for him and for Cleo, but I am worried about what it will cost them to get to the end of the prophesies and to start to live a less dangerous life."

"What about Rose and Scorpius?" Hermione wondered, chewing her lower lip in concern.

"I do not think you can shield Rose any more than you could stop yourself from leaving on that strange and dangerous adventure with your two boys," Harry replied with a rueful grin. "And just like I could not have survived without the two of you, I do not think that Albus and Cleo can survive without their two good friends, Rose and Scorpius. And Hermione, if that scares you, it ought to."

Hermione took a deep breath and closed her eyes. As a mother you wanted to protect your children at all cost. If Harry was right this was one of those "do what is right, not what is easy" decisions. It was obvious to her that she should not try to protect her daughter from any danger by keeping her away from Albus and his friends, a frightening thought. Harry gave her a quick hug and a shake and she smiled sadly at him.

* * *

Ginny took off Minerva's rather filthy clothes and gave her a bath, while Jane watched. "Minerva is learning how to feed herself," Ginny pointed out. "If you were looking at her from across the table, you noticed that it was not the neatest process."

"She sometimes misses her face!" Jane exclaimed, looking quizzically at Ginny.

"She is learning," Ginny elaborated. "You just have to give her time. Minerva is a very cautious baby. She is walking, but never very far. She is always looking to see if you approve of what she is doing, which is a huge change for me. None of my other children were like that."

Ginny dressed Minerva for bed, and then sat down to nurse her.

"Does she bite you?" Jane asked, noticing Minerva's teeth, curious as to the process.

"No," Ginny replied. "All the other children would have by this time. That is partly while I am continuing to nurse her. It feels good for me and for her. This is one part of being female that I like."

"What part of being female don't you like?" Jane wondered.

Sensing an opening to talk about growing up, Ginny replied with a grimace, "I'm not all that fond of periods."

Ginny and Jane spent the next hour talking about the challenges of growing up female, and of the changes her body was going to be going through.

* * *

Albus and Cleopatra entered the offices of the Prophecy Department, where they were met by Steve and Valerie Bushman, the heads of the Prophesy Interpretation Department, and the Prophetesses Nausicaa Scheria and Sibylla Papadopoulos.

"It would be nice if prophecy foretold the future," Steve started out after the two children sat down comfortably. "It is not that simple. Valerie and I have some skill in interpretation of prophesies, a difficult and uncertain job.

"It looks like there is the potential for a major change in the ruling of the Magi about every five-hundred years or so. Valerie and I, with much help, have been going back over all the prophesies that led up to the potential changes, and trying to find out what went wrong.

"We are reasonably sure that the new king and queen, or ruler of the Magi, need to have a number of items. One is what is called _The Resurrection Stone_. As we understand both prophesies and other documents, the stone, and the ring it is in, can be used for good, by calling the ancestors of a sick person to help. The person who wields the stone cannot use it for a parent or grandparent, nor for a child or grandchild. You must use it for others. Using it to contact ancestors who are lost, or for your own good, is not allowed. It is potentially a very dangerous object, and the misuse of it has caused much tragedy over the years.

"We think Harry Potter's parents were able to walk with him to face Tom Riddle only because Harry was prepared to sacrifice himself for others, not to do something for himself.

"Albus, if the centaurs know where the stone is, they should keep it safe. If you know where it is, do not use it. The documents from the past, and at least one current prophesy, say that if the stone can be not used until it is called to heal someone. If the first use is to heal, and whoever wields it never uses it for selfish reasons, then we have filled that prophesy. Albus, we think you are the one who will be using it, but we are not sure. It is possible, but not probably, that Cleo will have to be the one to use it."

Albus resisted the urge to feel for the ring in his pocket. He felt no temptation to use it, nor to let anyone else know he possessed it.

"There are two wands that the next rulers need. One is the Elder Wand that you, Albus, have. The other is the wand that your great-grandmother, Cleo, wields. We know that wand's history. It has been wielded by very powerful witches over the centuries, as many good as bad. We are almost sure that you two, Albus and Cleopatra, are going to have to somehow take the wand away from great-grandmother. We think you will have to fight her for it, but again we are not totally sure.

"You must show no mercy to your great-grandmother, Jezebel Nukpana. She has a glass knife that the evil Aztec Magi used for human sacrifice. We are reasonably sure that she has averaged one or more sacrifices a day throughout her over one-hundred-year reign, tying them to an alter and cutting out their still beating heart. That is over thirty-six-thousand people! Show her no mercy!

"The last objects are the first three Crystal Balls. One is here, and another is with Jezebel Nukpana, taken along with the wand when the first Pirate Witch Queen of the Caribbean left Switzerland and her betrothed about five hundred years ago.

"The third is with The Lord of the Dementors. We are not sure if that Crystal Ball was taken five-hundred or one-thousand years ago. Both five-hundred and one-thousand years ago, a wizard who could have become the Chief Wizard was lured to the cave of The Lord of the Dementors. We are not sure if one of them became the new Lord of the Dementors, or if both were lured to their deaths.

"Until this year we felt that all of the tokens would have to be recovered before you two, Albus and Cleopatra, would be able to take your place as rulers. It now appears that if all but the one Crystal Ball are recovered you will be able to become something like Crown Prince and Princess."

"When will all this happen," Albus asked, knowing some of the answer but wanting Cleopatra to hear it from the prophets.

"That is one of the most frustrating things about prophecy," Sibylla shared. "A prophecy almost never gives you anything like a firm date, and often they are phrased if-then, if this happens then this other thing will happen. Until you get to the first 'if' you have no idea that the other thing is about to or has happened.

"Things are, however, moving much faster than we thought they would. There is no indication that you will have to fight Jezebel this coming year. All we see indicates that you may have to fight her before you graduate from Hogwarts."

Albus and Cleopatra spent another hour talking about prophesies, and how they needed to be prepared to fight Jezebel.

* * *

Harry walked into his and Ginny's bedroom at the palace in Switzerland to find Ginny sitting on the bed, her knees up to her chest. It was her 'I've been thinking about things' posture, and Harry knew Ginny had things on her mind, things she wanted to talk about. Harry had been married long enough to know that Ginny was not looking for advice or answers, just an ear to listen to her.

Ginny looked at Harry as he came into the bedroom. "I had a good talk with Jane tonight, about growing up, how your body changes, periods and breasts growing. We talked a little about boys. Jane is very observant. She is also very shy and very cautious."

Harry nodded his head, knowing that he was just supposed to listen.

"Jane has noticed how almost maternal Cleo is, and how she makes you want to become a mother. There were many women who came with the children who carried babies one to three months old, like they had become pregnant within a month or two of being with the children last year who saw Cleo. A couple of them remarked to Jane that it was hard not to want a baby, or another baby, after seeing Cleo, especially with that fountain in the square."

Harry looked quizzically at Ginny. Did she want another baby?

"I'm not ready for another baby, yet," Ginny mumbled. "I've picked up three daughters over the last year, Minerva, Cleo, and now Jane, plus we have Lily, all different, different ages and stages of growth and personality. Why me? I was a tomboy, never frilly or feminine. I've always liked the physical side of sex and all that, but home decorating and cooking, making clothes, tending a garden, all the things my mother did that were woman's work, I've never focused on that. The Elves cook and clean and wash and put away clothes, and I am quite content to let them.

"I do not mind shopping for clothes, but I don't know style like Rose does, and I do not really care to always be the height of fashion. I've never wanted to redecorate the house."

"In some ways you have been a mother to Rose as well," Harry pointed out. "You have had more patience with her than Hermione when it comes to shopping, and I know sometimes she talks to you instead of her almost always busy mother."

"Rose, too," Ginny thought, as she took off her night clothes.

"You are a fantastic mother, Ginny," Harry let Ginny know, kissing her on the top of her head as he moved to get undressed.

"Make me a happy woman, Harry," Ginny cooed as she stretched out, naked.

Which he did.

2020


	26. Ch 26 Parents of the MELL Students

Ch 26 Parents of the MELL Students

More great work by Deb and Diane, my beta advisors. Thank you.

* * *

"Hermione and I are meeting the parents of the MELL students, and the students, and other family members, today," Harry told Ginny as they were getting ready to go to breakfast. Harry was dressed and was gently bouncing Minerva on his shoulder as he waited for Ginny to finish getting ready. "From the messages we have been receiving over the last weeks, the whole day may be one contentious meeting after another. Do you and Minerva want to be somewhere else?"

"Jane too," Ginny proposed with a firm nod. "The last thing she needs is to be in the middle of arguments that she is not involved in and doesn't understand."

The same family group met for breakfast, and the tables were arranged the same, except that Ron Weasley was next to Hermione, so Jane was next to Ron.

"It sounds like I am going to be lucky to be at the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes store here in Switzerland instead of confronting all the parents of the Magi and Elf Language Learners," Ron remarked with a grin. "I will be thinking of you."

"All you will be thinking of is gross sales and profit margins," Hermione huffed.

"My profit margins help you buy beautiful books, my beautiful wife," Ron kidded. "Smartest witch in the world, and bloody beautiful too."

Hermione turned towards Ron, her face full of exasperation. Ron kissed Hermione before she could say anything. A world of emotions ran over Hermione's face, but her visage finally softened, and she returned Ron's kiss.

"I am going to take Jane back to our quarters," Ginny announced, rolling her eyes at the antics of her brother and best friend. "I am going to work on the next couple of Quidditch columns, and teach Jane how to take care of a toddler."

Jane did not understand all that was going on, but apparently most of the people at the table were concerned that they were facing a difficult day full of conflict. She was glad that she was going to be going with Mrs. Potter.

After breakfast Harry, Hermione, Albus, Rose, Cleo and Scorpius walked to a moderate sized room on the first floor of the castle. The castle had two floors above the main floor labeled floor one and two, but most of the castle was below the main floor, and those floors were labeled minus one to minus ten, a strange if accurate way of labeling the floors.

Harry and Hermione sat in an overstuffed piece of furniture, and the four students perched on high stools behind them, as they waited for the parents and other family members of the MELL students to assemble. There were several Auror guards, people from Britain and Switzerland, but no Elves of any kind.

The first families to appear were the French Canadians. Joseph Marie DuMond Jr., his wife Emilie, and their daughter Gabrielle were first, followed by Jean-Paul Felion, his wife Melissa, and their son Jean-Louis. Everyone was impeccably dressed, and the women each wore a fortune on their fingers.

Joseph wasted no time in attacking as he stormed over to Harry. "What have you done, Potter, with the house elves and goblins? My house elf and my wife's told us they are attending meetings, not staying with us! Impertinent! Disobedient! I thought that just the three of us and our servants would come, and two more house elves accompanied them, and four goblins. I think the two smaller ones were goblin females; they looked almost like house elves. They were just dressed like prosperous goblin wives, as near as I could tell.

"They took us to a big house owned by a Mr. and Mrs. Zwiefollhofer. They have this huge estate between the top and the next main road, with a house elf quarters that has at least six bedrooms and I do not know what else. The goblins are staying in one of the bedrooms, and our house elves announced that they were staying in another bedroom.

"The goblins indicated that they were paying the Zwiefollhofer house elves for the rooms, like those house elves owned those living quarters. That is WRONG!

"Other house elves took our luggage to our rooms and left us. What have you done?" He continued to glare at Harry as if everything in the world was his fault.

"We have not done anything," Hermione retorted, a little miffed that he hadn't even acknowledge her at all. "I assume your Elves are Elves, paid and clothed, even if the pay is minimal. I would guess they want to be treated as equal beings."

"Elves, house elves, bah. Their families have served us for generations," Joseph yelled, throwing his hands up in anger.

"Maybe they are not so eager to be treated as slaves anymore," Hermione suggested, her tone sly but hard.

"They are not PEOPLE!" Joseph screamed.

But Hermione insisted, "There is nothing that forces them to be unequal beings." Hermione looked at Harry.

"Genetic evidence shows that both house elves and goblins are genetically as similar as different members of the human race are," Harry explained. "They are all descendent from beings we are calling High Elves. They are no more inferior to us than black skinned people are genetically inferior to light skinned people. I think they are getting tired of being treated as slaves."

"We do not abuse our house elves!" Joseph insisted very indignantly at the suggestion.

"Hire Magi to do what your Elves do for you now?" Hermione scoffed. "Hire No-Maj."

"Why would I hire No-Maj?" Joseph sneered as if the idea disgusted him.

"You are not as removed from the No-Maj world as you imply, or you would not be using a Magi Cell Phone," Harry retorted, referring to what they called a Magic/Muggle Mobile on the continent.

Joseph thought that argument was ridiculous. The discussion continued for several more minutes.

Meanwhile Gabrielle DuMond was pointing to Cleopatra, and whispering to her mother. They both shook their heads and quite obviously were looking askance at Cleopatra, who was admittedly looking rather frumpy. Rose glared at the two as they were obviously talking about her friend. 'Pretty is as pretty does,' was a favorite saying of her grandmother Granger and these two were definitely showing their ugly petty side with their actions.

They were interrupted by the entrance of Cindy Edington, the North American Minister of Magic, her husband Bill, two of their children and their spouses, and the grandchildren who were MELL students, the cousins Luta and Henry Edington.

"Just what kind of danger have you put our grandchildren in, putting them in Slytherin?" Bill snapped, pulling away from his wife's calming hand on his.

The French Canadian Magi stepped aside as another confrontation began, Gabrielle huffing, "At least I'M in Ravenclaw, the only house that has brains."

"Your children were not asked to nor allowed to go into the Chamber of Secrets, and we kept them as safe as we could," Harry replied to Bill Edington as the Canadians left to mutter in a corner of the room.

"I cannot say my grandchildren are very fond of the character of that Slytherin house," Bill noted.

"It seems to me that the Magi of North America are always problem solvers," Harry replied. "There are problems with Slytherin, and one solution is to put people like you on the Hogwarts board so we can change some of the rules the Slytherin operates under and appoint our candidates to be the prefects and leaders of the house."

"People like me?" Bill pondered, obviously shocked at the sudden change in the conversation.

"You, Bill," Harry countered. "I want you on the Hogwarts board. You. I've run it by most of other board members and Minerva McGonagall, and they agree. Don't just complain about the very real problems we are facing. Do something about it. And please keep this conversation confidential!"

Bill looked at his wife, his children and their spouses, and finally agreed, "I will do what I can.

There was a moderately long conversation between the Edington clan with Harry, Hermione, and the children concerning Hogwarts and Slytherin before they were interrupted by another group.

Late in the morning the Chinese contingent arrived. Hermione spotted her partner in writing and revising the Potions textbooks, T.T. Chang, and waved him over. The whole Chinese contingent followed.

Patricia Wang, the mother of Harry and Ginny Wang, two of the Slytherin MELL students, started, her voice raised, "Just how much danger were our students in from those basilisk? We did not send our children to Hogwarts to put them in danger."

"The danger from Tom Riddle Hanley has passed," Harry insisted, loud enough so the whole room could hear him. Harry continued much more quietly, "Hogwarts is reasonably safe. There are dangers in our world. You are in the part of the world most haunted by the Lord of the Dementors. Our world is facing multiple challenges and dangers, as well as opportunities. I know the Chinese word for crisis, wēijī, is composed of two characters signifying opportunity and danger.

"Life is not risk free. Our children are more at risk, by far, than your children. You will not keep China nor our magical world safe by hiding in China. You know that."

Patricia's husband Paul jumped in with, "Is there anything we can do to help?"

"The person I need help from is T.T.," Harry replied, looking at T.T. Chang. "I need you to agree to be on the Hogwarts board."

"Why me?" T.T. inquired.

"I would rather not have anyone too prominent in one of the Ministry of Magic's on the board. I cannot have anyone who runs another magical school on the board. And I know who I want," Harry explained.

"Does this have anything to do with governing Slytherin?" T.T. asked, beginning to guess what Harry was trying to do.

"Do not suggest that, please!" Harry emphasized, grinning with a conspiratorial grin.

T.T. grinned back, putting his finger on the side of his nose in understanding. He was almost certainly Harry had some plan in the works. "I would like to see running a school from the other side," T.T. agreed. "I've been a teacher most of my life. This will be a good experience."

After all the parents and students had arrived the gathering broke up into groups of adults and smaller groups of the children.

As the afternoon developed, Eduardo Rios started to spend time with Albus and Cleopatra, talking about spells. Cleopatra's unusual wand, and the odd way she performed most spells, fascinated Eduardo, who was quite content to let his wife lead the LA School of Witchcraft and Wizardry while he taught and developed spells.

Hermione and Rose found themselves pinned down by Emilie DuMond and her daughter Gabrielle, as they talked about details of classes, and how Hogwarts was run verses how their very good magical school in Quebec was taught. Meanwhile Jean-Paul and Melissa Felion, the parents of Jean-Louis Felion, approached Harry.

"Where is your wife?" Jean-Paul wondered as he looked around the room. "Will we see her at the opening ball?"

"She is taking care of our toddler Minerva, who is just a year old, plus an eleven-year-old girl raised in a No-Maj house who is starting Hogwarts with our daughter Lily Luna next year," Harry explained.

"Avoiding the conflict?" Jean-Paul asked, looking at his cousin Emilie grilling Hermione, her daughter Gabrielle looking on.

"Ginny will be at the dinner and ball tonight," Harry replied with a nod.

"What about that Malfoy child's parents?" Jean-Paul persisted. "Where are his parents."

"Back in Great Britain," Harry admitted. "They are no longer part of the power structure of British Magi at this point."

"But Scorpius is?" Jean-Paul wondered.

"He is a nice person," Harry suggested, "and he is not liable for the sins of his father and grandfather. He is too young to see what he is going to become, but I have high hopes for him."

Jean-Paul looked at his son Jean-Louis. Jean-Louis agreed, "Scorpius is OK. He is on the side of all the people in Slytherin who are trying to change the character of the house. He also seems to be a really nice person. He and Rose study harder than just about anyone."

"How did he become your group's spokesperson?" Jean-Paul wondered.

"He took notes when no one else did, and worked at it," Harry argued. "No one is preventing anyone else from doing it, but it is a lot of work. I know he has spent most of the last few days writing articles, working very hard at it."

As the day wore on Harry recognized that most of the parents were just trying to get to know their friend's parents. All of them had met before, but there was much catching up.

2020


	27. Ch 27 The Opening Ball

Ch 27 The Opening Ball

Many changes because of my two beta readers, Deb and Diane. Thank you for making the story better, and in this case easier to read as well.

* * *

Harry looked around at the meeting of the MELL students and their parents and families. He put his wand to his throat, saying 'Sonorus," and announcing, "There is going to be an opening dinner and then dance tonight. All of the MELL students are invited to attend along with all of the people in attendance here. Seating is assigned, and it is a formal occasion. If you do not have appropriate dress, please let someone on the staff know."

Harry put his wand back to his throat and said, "Quietu, then turned to Albus and Cleo. "The prophets would like the two of you to come with Mum and me. They would like you to be dressed by the costumers of the Regent."

Rose turned to Scorpius, shaking her head. "It will be interesting to see if they have any better luck with Cleo than I do. I do the best I can, helping her to buy stylish clothes, but between her obsession with pockets and her own choice of what she wants to wear I am not very successful." Scorpius looked sympathetic to Rose's plight as Cleo was dressed today in dress of large cabbage roses and huge pockets that took up the front of her skirt.

* * *

Harry and Albus went down to the quarters of the Regent in the castle, and into a large men's dressing room. When Harry was first in Switzerland the formal dress was very fancy, medieval looking robes. Harry had insisted that they change to what he still felt were too fancy and decorated but much more modern suits. All his medals and honors were displayed on the jacket, much to Harry's discomfort.

Albus had displayed his unusual magic powers early, and more than once it had been suggested that he be awarded The Order of Merlin for saving lives during these incidents. Albus never talked about this, and it was not widely known. For the first time, there was on Albus's jacket modest but visible markers indicating these actions. The information was not large or showy, but it was there, much to his embarrassment.

* * *

One of the ladies that maintained the costumes for the Regents came into the room where Ginny, Jane and Minerva were and told them, "Ginny, you have to get ready for the ball tonight."

Jane panicked. "Do I have to go to a ball? I do not have a dress for a ball, and I have no idea how to behave. I'm not ready for a ball."

You are staying here with Minerva and an aide." Ginny reassured Jane, resisting the urge to say 'Yes, Cinderella' to Jane. They could easily get a dress for Jane, but emotionally Jane was probably not ready for a ball.

Ginny, Jane and Minerva went into a large dressing room, where a witch washed Ginny's hair. Jane noticed that the shampoo bottle had Mrs. Potter's name on it and picked it up. Ginny remarked, "I made my own shampoo. The scent is custom."

Jane noticed that the scent, although feminine, was a little sharper than most of the female scents she was aware of. She noticed that the hairdresser finished up with some _Cover Witch Cosmetics 'Colour Just the Gray'_ from a bottle that also had Mrs. Potter's name on it.

The hairdo that that Ginny ended up with was much more sophisticated than the way she usually wore her hair. She wore an incredible tiara.

Eventually Cleo was led into the room. The hairdresser looked skeptically at the two large plaits, took them out, and washed Cleo's hair. It was thick, seldom straight but not uniformly curled. The witch tried to put it up in a bun or otherwise corral it. She tried one large, more sophisticated plait, but it did not look like Cleo. She finally put it back in the two big plaits intertwined with many smaller intricate braids and beads. She then took Cleo into a big room where the three witches were just finishing dressing Ginny in a very fancy dress that did not hide that she was heavy but emphasized all her curves. Ginny looked like a prosperous middle-age mother.

The three witches looked critically at Cleo. They tried a modest dress that covered her up to her neck, but it obviously was not her. They tried a couple of dresses ideal for an early teen-age girl, but her figure was really closer to that of a well-endowed sixteen-year-old Muggle girl than that of one that was only thirteen-and-a-half. They tried a couple of dresses to minimize her bust or hips, but neither worked.

When they were big enough, breasts were features that you could work with, minimizing them or shaping them to look sexy. There was only one shape that looked natural on Cleo, and that shape seemed to shout out 'Maternal," not something you would think natural on a young girl. The same with the large shapely hips and the not thin but certainly much thinner middle, which somehow by not being too thin looked more lush and maternal than it would have had it been real thin.

The dress they ended up with showed a modest amount of cleavage, and was form fitting to Cleo's natural waist, where it flared out, emphasizing her hourglass shape. It did have a very obvious pocket for her wand, and another small pocket.

"She makes me want to have a baby again," the oldest of the three witches remarked.

Cleo looked right at the youngest, who smiled. The young witch had accompanied both of her children to see Cleo earlier in the week, and after each time made love to her husband when she was fertile. It was hard to see and talk to Cleo and not think having another baby was a good thing.

The third witch had just become a grandmother. Before working with Cleo, she was more than content with her three, but working with Cleo there was something just so attractive about, maybe …

Everyone looked at Cleopatra. At least she was not frumpy. She looked very very Cleopatra. She would never be beautiful in a twenty-first century sort of way, but she did radiate a Renaissance sensuality. All of the Potters' were easy to approach and talk to, but Cleo radiated an openness that put people at ease. The previous ruling family wore expensive costumes to separate themselves from their subjects. There was an honesty about Cleopatra's dress and appearance that was the opposite.

One witch brought out a tiara that Cleo was supposed to wear, very worried that the expensive tiara would look silly on this unpretentious outfit. To everyone's surprise, the tiara looked natural on Cleo. She looked like a princess, a princess that anyone would be comfortable approaching and becoming friends with, but still a princess.

* * *

Harry hated to make an entrance. He had been able to avoid most of the pomp and ceremony of being the Regent, but the Opening and Closing Balls for the International Confederation of Witches and Wizards were exceptions. Most of the time he was just Harry Potter, not Harry Potter with three Orders of Merlin and the Wizard of Wizard's award from the International Confederation of Witches and Wizards and honors from Great Britain and he had lost track of all the other countries. The full list of his honors could fill a page, and it embarrassed him. The only time he had to acknowledge them was at the Opening and Closing ceremonies.

Harry and Albus met Ginny and Cleo at the door to the witches dressing room. Harry took Ginny's arm. Tonight there would be no Elf helping her, so Harry had to let Ginny hold his arm whenever she was not sitting down. Albus and Cleopatra followed, holding hands. Albus had grown, and was finally significantly taller than his short mother and closer to his father's height. He was wearing shoes that raised him up another two inches, and Cleo wore very thin slippers, so although she was taller than he, in fact taller than Harry, she did not tower over him as much as she had a year ago.

As they entered, the Sergeant at Arms introduced them. "The Regents Harry Potter, who has ordered me not to read his many honors to avoid delaying the start of dinner, and his wife Ginny Potter, Order of Merlin First Class.

"Albus Potter and Cleopatra."

Harry rolled his eyes and sighed at the antics of the Sergeant at Arms, but was grateful that the Magi did not belabor his introduction.

The two couples walked up to the head table. Everyone stood while Bishop Scherica gave a very non-denominational blessing, and then sat down.

Appetizers appeared at everyone's plate at once, one of the nice things that magic made possible. A multi-course dinner and dessert followed.

Harry and Albus were sitting next to each other. Harry pointed out various people to Albus, and told him a little about each, and Albus did the same for some of the students and their families. Ginny was sitting next to Giselle Richter, the wife of Gerhard Richter, the Chief Wizard of Switzerland, someone she had known for over twenty years.

Cleo was sitting next to an older lady who introduced herself. "I am Jo, and I am in charge of primary school education here in the valley. I have heard about you from many of our teachers and students, and am happy to meet you."

Cleopatra responded with one of her huge smiles. "Oh, I love meeting all the children! Their flags do so help make the valley happier. I'm always delighted at all the new and unique designs they come up with."

"The last time I saw that tiara worn it was by the daughter of the last Regent," Jo puzzled. "You are not a daughter of the Regent. The children act like you are going to be the next queen, or they want you to be the next queen. Who are you?"

"Albus and I are going to marry and have a big family," Cleo casually remarked, as if that would explain things.

"How old are you?" Jo wondered.

"Albus and I are only thirteen, so we are going to have to wait years before we marry," Cleo sighed. "At least Albus is growing up. He was a little boy when we met two years ago, but he is maturing. Every time I have a period it reminds me I could have a baby, but I guess I need to wait. I love babies and children."

"You are going to Hogwarts with Albus Potter?" Jo asked.

"We are in different houses, but we are going to classes together, and do many other things together," Cleo confirmed, smiling one of her frequent huge smiles.

She and Jo proceeded to talk about classes and Hogwarts. Jo shared how primary schools were organized in the Swiss valley, something that Cleo expressed a great interest in. Jo ended up being very pleased with Cleo's interest in and appreciation of her work for the primary age children of the valley.

Eventually Cleo told Jo, "I need to write down some things." Jo did not see anything big enough to hold even a small biro, but Cleo reached into the flat slit in her dress and pulled out the tiniest of purses. She touched it with her wand and it grew into a modest sized clutch purse. Cleo reached into the purse and pulled out a modest sized note pad about four times larger than the purse, along with a biro to write with. She proceeded to grill Jo on some of the things they had been talking about, writing information in her note pad.

When she was finished she looked like she was pondering something. "Index," she said as she started to write. She spoke Jo's full name, and some details of the discussion, the date of the dinner. Then she thought," Jo's husband has an unusual tie with Beaters and Bludgers on it. Jo has a purple dress with a sweetheart neckline."

"How will those help you remember?" Jo asked.

"Sometimes I remember a conversation by who I was talking to and what they looked like," Cleo replied. "Rose and Mrs. Granger-Weasley have helped me index my notes."

Cleo proceeded to put the biro back in the notepad, the modest size notepad into the little purse, then shrank the purse and put it into a pocked way too small for it, leaving no sign of anything except an almost unnoticeable slit pocket in her dress.

Rose looked on in wonder at this scene. The people who dressed Cleo had somehow managed to keep her neat while letting her be herself. This was magic of a high order.

* * *

Gabrielle DuMond had arranged to sit next to Rose Granger-Weasley at the dinner. Her parents had impressed on her the need to become friends with the most powerful of the Magi children. She was not in Gryffindor or Slytherin, so she did not spend as much time with the other MELL students when she was at Hogwarts. So she arranged to sit next to Rose.

"I admire your fashion sense," Gabrielle told Rose before Harry and Ginny, Albus and Cleo entered. "What kind of dress is Cleo going to wear tonight?"

"I have no idea," Rose told Gabrielle.

"I cannot imagine she is going to look like a princess, or do justice to her supposed position," Gabrielle scoffed.

"They are getting dressed in the Regent's quarters," Rose explained.

"I've never seen her well dressed," Gabrielle sneered.

Rose kept quiet. Cleo was not a conventional beauty, but Rose had seen her reasonably well put together at times. Cleo would never meet Gabrielle's standards for beauty, but she wasn't ugly by any means.

Harry and Ginny, Albus and Cleopatra had to make a grand entrance just before the meal was to begin. When they entered, Rose looked at her uncle and aunt. Harry was handsome and fit, and looked like a modern ruler in his modern suit. Ginny's dress, plus the tiara, made her look like a modern queen.

Albus did look like a prince, a very young one but no longer a child.

Cleopatra looked like Cleopatra. The dress she was wearing showed just who she was, with a wand pocket that showed off the most unusual wand she carried and somehow emphasized that she was a powerful witch. The dress, the hair, everything about her conveyed that she was the friendliest and most approachable princess. Her smile took over her face, not the carefully controlled modest smile of a beauty queen but the overly wide smile of someone who was happy she was who she was and you were who you were.

And the tiara fit. Somehow you knew that, as unlikely as it might have been, Cleopatra was a princess.

Gabrielle looked at Cleo as she entered, ready to sneer at her again, and stopped short. That fat (well, she wasn't that fat, just not thin) undignified mess of a girl looked like a princess.

Gabrielle looked in surprise at Rose, who smirked. The ladies who dressed her Aunt Ginny had worked a miracle on Cleopatra, making her look like a princess while at the same time allowing her to look like herself.

"Don't worry, Gabrielle," Rose smiled, her tone perfectly calm. "She will revert back to the Cleopatra you love to make fun of. There is just more to her. Remember, Cleo is my friend and I would appreciate it if you kept your jealous comments about her to yourself when in my presence."

"Jealous?" Gabrielle started to rage, but then seeing Cleo so at ease at the head table, and Roses determined visage, she stayed quiet.

Rose's dinner with Gabrielle was reasonably tense and frosty, and Rose vowed never to share a meal with Gabrielle if she could avoid it.

A formal ball followed the dinner. This was a chance for people to talk to Harry and Ginny, and almost more importantly Albus and Cleopatra.

People in Switzerland knew who Harry and Ginny were. Harry was a modest person, a Regent who seldom used the power of his office and never flaunted it. Everybody could see that he was way more powerful in the world of the Magi than his formal titles, Head Auror in Great Britain and one of the assistant-managers of the International Auror Association, would suggest. Harry never withdrew any money from the Regent's accounts either, which endeared him to the Magi in Switzerland. There were rumors that he was fabulously wealthy, which was true, but there was nothing in the way he lived to indicate he was anything other than moderately wealthy.

Ginny was a sports writer, and as that was a rather public person. She dismissed her Quidditch injuries by saying that the knee that was damaged had at one time been very painful, but since they installed the Muggle metal knee that had not hurt, and none of her other problems, as serious as they sometimes were, caused her any pain. She seemed to be a very happy person, although she did have a temper.

Harry and Ginny had been attending these balls and dealing with the people in Switzerland and around the world for years, and had become very good at being polite without being too newsworthy.

As soon as rumors began to surface about Albus, people had been trying to figure him out. Albus tried to resist any attempt to speculate about being the heir, or about what he would do if he was. All the MELL students acknowledged him as their leader, partly because Galadriel and Thorin treated him as such, and partly because he was obviously the most knowledgeable and powerful Magi of the group. Albus had tried, not always successfully, not to do anything newsworthy until last year, when he and Cleo removed the wall in front of the castle, and Cleo started to redecorate the castle.

No one had been able to talk to Cleo since she left Switzerland a year ago until she arrived back with Albus about a week ago. Since then most of the children of the valley had met with her, but reporters had been kept away. All the younger children and even most of the older ones wanted her to be the next queen, and to spend time with them. Rose could not begin to give the budding artists all the attention they wanted and needed, and Cleo and Rose had recruited a dozen witches and a dozen wizards with artistic talent and the ability to work with children, something that endured Cleo not only to the young artists being taught but also to the older children whose talents were being used and appreciated.

As soon as Cleo was at the table with Albus a group of Magi approached her. One Francois de la Farge said a snide remark in French, to which Cleo responded is passable French that her French was not very good. Francois continued in irritated English, "Who gave you permission to redo the castle?"

"Mr. Potter and Mr. Richter gave us permission, sir," Cleo responded. "The castle was dark and gloomy. It looked like a 15th century castle that had never been updated, built and decorated by people who were afraid. I want a happy castle that makes everyone who sees it happy. Who wants a dark and gloomy castle? Most of the castle did not have modern bathrooms! That is why we are doing all this work, putting in bathrooms, and as long as we are running pipes for plumbing we are putting glasses for inside nets in each room because the wild flyers don't go through the walls."

Harry laughed. "We are putting glass fiber for internet because the thick walls of the castle interfere with wi-fi. We are also running electric wires to all the rooms. We are not hooking it up everywhere yet, but as Cleo indicated as long as we are modernizing the infrastructure we might as well do it all at once."

Many of the Magi recognized what Harry was talking about, although there was a significant minority for whom wi-fi did not make any more sense than wild flyers.

Gerhardt Richter added, "Harry had not really spent any money on the castle since becoming Regent, and the house accounts had accumulated more than enough money, if that is your concern, Francois. It really was time to modernize the castle."

"Do you want to live in the castle, Cleo?" one of the witches asked.

"Who would not want to live in a fairy tale castle?" Cleo sighed, looking at Albus. "And they lived Happily Ever After, and filled the castle with love and laughter and lots and lots of children."

"I did not want to live in this castle," Ginny interjected. "I never had enough energy to redecorate this place either, nor the need to."

"Are you a princess?" another one of the witches asked, looking at the tiara.

"With ermine robes and sitting up on a throne and lording it over people?" Cleo wondered. "I hope not. I'm just me. I was going to tell them not to put this tiara on my head, but it fits. Albus and the prophets tell me, tell us, Albus and me, that there are things we have to do, dangerous things, and I know I have to be a good person and do them, but I really just want to grow up and marry Albus and have a big family, but I will do what I have to do because that is what you have to do."

You could see a couple of the Magi trying to parse that long and convoluted sentence.

"How come you marched in here with Harry and Ginny," another person asked.

"Because I was told to," Cleo replied simply.

"So you think you and Albus are going to be the next King and Queen of the Magi?" another wizard asked Cleo.

"Or prince and princess or he-ruler and she-ruler or President and Mrs. President or manager and manage-her or something, I guess, if the prophets are right, and if we don't die, which I hope we don't, because dying would really be a problem, and we couldn't fulfill any of the prophesies if one of us was dead."

"I am not sure the old King and Queen structure is appropriate for the twenty-first century," Albus added.

Someone jumped in with, "So Albus, if you do fulfill the prophesies you will turn down being king?"

Albus paused a moment, before answering, "I think you are asking for a simple answer to a complicated question. Our world is changing. It has to change, as the No-Maj world changes. Our magic is no match for some of the magic of the modern No-Maj world. I would expect how we govern ourselves will have to change as well."

The same person grumbled, "That is a complicated non-answer."

"Yes, Sir, it is," Albus grinned and replied.

Someone who looked oriental, not one that Albus knew, jumped in with, "You have the Elder Wand. Does that make you the most powerful wizard in the world?"

"I do not think it is particularly wise or safe to think so," Albus replied. "It has been called an unbeatable wand, but plenty of wizards who have used it have been beaten. Sometimes I think of it more like The Sword of Damocles. The wand is powerful, but other people lust after it and will even kill for it."

"Are you going to have to fight the Lord of the Dementors?" the same wizard continued.

"If we do, the prophets say it will be a bloody and terrible fight, and there is no guarantee that we will win," Albus replied.

A few people noticed the markings on Albus's jacket indicating that he had been nominated for the Order of Merlin, but he refused to comment on that subject even when pressed. Harry finally had to reinforce Albus in this, saying, "If Albus does not want to talk about it please respect his wishes, or leave."

The conversation continued in this vein for some time. Eventually Harry and Ginny danced a few of the slow dances. While Harry and Ginny were not with them Albus and Cleopatra did not answer any questions, Albus insisting over and over, "I want my parents here before saying anything else."

Very few of the MELL students danced; dancing lessons at Hogwarts started third year.

As the dance was breaking up Rose rushed over to Cleopatra. "You looked fantastic, Cleo!" Rose gushed. "What did they do?"

"I don't know," an honestly puzzled Cleo replied. "Come along and find out."

When they arrived back at the dressing room the three witches who had dressed Ginny and Cleo undressed Cleo and put the dress she had been wearing back on. They had done something to tighten up the pockets, and instructed Cleo on how to shrink and expand the multiple items she insisted on keeping in her pockets.

"Can you teach me how to do that?" Rose inquired.

"We can try," one of the witches replied. "Bring the rest of Miss Cleopatra's wardrobe here tomorrow."

The next day the witches worked with Rose and Cleopatra on her wardrobe. Nothing could make Cleo look stylish in the same way Rose was, but the alterations and lessons helped Cleo look less disheveled and frumpy. They also gave Rose some styling tips.

2020


End file.
